"Two o'clock in the morning, the eleventh day of September, a Monday. For the occasion, Helene wore new sunglasses with water-blue lenses and lemon frames. She sucked on a chip of ice. They were traveling toward California at 12 miles per hour."
Helene is blind and diabetic; Ina likes to drink beer. Catalyzed by sudden acts of violence in their neighborhoods andfueled by their desire to free themselves, the two widowed sisters set off on a road trip to California, where Ina's grown children live. The women, of course, learn much about their families, themselves, and their worlds as they travel. Surprisingly, Dickinson's slightly stilted narrative beginning grows increasingly more human, and in turn more gripping, as the pair drives further west. The characterization develops fully just soon enough to hook the reader, who may find this novel a refreshing change, as it examines the physical, emotional, and spiritual lives of two endearing but not perfect older women.
