Crazy as Chocolate by Elisabeth Hyde

I need to make a side comment here: I have no rhyme or reason as to when I read any particular book, BUT it appears that whatever I select to read, there's always some small similarity to the last book that I read. For example: this book I'm posting on now is about mental illness and my last posting was a book I read about mental illness. It was a coincidence... Another time, I read a Dean Koontz book and the main character was handcuffed a few times in the book and right after reading that I read a Stephen King book and his character was in handcuffs throughout 90% of the book! There have been other related readings, but I just wanted to note that here! Thanks for reading!

I could have read this book in 1 day, maybe 2 if it was on a day off! I bought this book from the employee bookstore at Bookspan, a place I used to work. The title was what attracted me. I just love chocolate!

It’s about a family dealing with mental illness. The story begins with the main character, Isabel, who is turning 41 the next day. Her mother committed suicide when she turned 41. She’s not looking forward to the birthday for obvious reasons. She recants growing up with her mother. She starts out by stating how she kept her mothers’ illness a secret during her college years, and even from her husband Gabe.

As her older sister Ellie gets older, she gets diagnosed as manic-depressive, obsessive-compulsive, clinically depressed and phobic. It seems that Ellie never remembered any of their mom’s odd moments. I wonder if she blocked it out because perhaps she was already showing symptoms in herself of some kind of mental imbalance.

Although I don’t make light of any illness, I found the tales of Isabel’s mother funny. She would lie in the blink of an eye and think nothing of it if she got caught. Isabel and Ellie never disclosed to their mother that they knew of the lies she told people. The girls were allowed to get a dog and their mother would walk them to school with the dog every day. She was not a quiet dog and caused quite a stir on the playground. The Principal told their mother that she was not allowed to bring the dog onto the playground anymore because the children didn’t feel safe. Their mother told the Principal that she had a maniac of a brother who had just got released from jail and was harassing the family, thus the need for the dog. This was all a lie, but the Principal still banned the dog.

The story hits a crescendo, on Isabel’s birthday, when Ellie tells Isabel that she and her husband are getting a divorce and he wants to take obtain custody of their daughter, Rachel. That might have something to do with Ellie all of a sudden, opening a window and climbing outside to stand on the window ledge, in front of Rachel. Rachel gets lost and Isabel almost loses it when they all come together to celebrate Isabel’s birthday.

A quick read with a happy ending!