Sundays At Tiffany's by James Patterson
Written by the prolific suspense novelist, James Patterson, this departure piece is a lighthearted fantasy romance. It was co-written by children's author, Gabrielle Charbonnet and delves into the magical world of childhood and imaginary friends. Jane is a lonely little rich girl when we first meet her. The only child of Hollywood agent, Vivienne Margaux, Jane is often neglected and finds escape from her overbearing and highly critical mother in the form of Michael her thirty-something imaginary friend. Jane's only solace is Sunday afternoons eating lunch at the St. Regis Hotel with her mother. The only time, it seems, her mother shares any real time with her daughter. At these weekly outings, Michael is there offering unconditional love by entertaining her with games, keeping all her secrets and never tells her she eats too much ice cream.
On Jane's ninth birthday, Michael informs her that he must leave. She is now officially "too old" for an imaginary friend and must begin to grow up. Devastated Jane never forgets Michael and years later pens a hit play based on her childhood experience with Michael. As the play is ready to be filmed into a major motion picture, Michael reappears into Jane's life and miraculously has become real, or so it seems, though the reader is never let in on how exactly this happens.
On the surface the book is a fast read and a charming tale. The character of Jane is likeable and I could not help being drawn into her world with Michael. However, about half-way through the story I kept looking for something hidden, a plot twist to develop that would put a spin of realism into this absurd tale. By the middle of the book I thought I had it figured out. Jane, it appeared, must be schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder. I was sure that Michael was her alter ego and had re-emerged at a stressful and vulnerable time in poor Jane's life. She has just written a play recounting her childhood experience with Michael, so therefore he had been constantly in her thoughts. Her boyfriend is a narcisistic jerk and her mother an overbearing nightmare. All the clues were there including her anxiety attacks, headaches and bouts with alcohol just prior to Michael reappearance. Also it appeared that initially only Jane could see Michael. Then mysteriously others seemed to see him as well. Or were they merely interacting with Jane who had assumed Michael's persona?
Well, be that as it may. By the end of the book it appeared that my theory was all wrong and indeed Michael was real and had inexplicably become human. Jane's gets to live out her dream and have the perfect fantasy husband. I think I preferred my ending better. Really does anyone get the perfect man? And what kind of message is that? What about a mutual give and take in a real human marriage warts and all?
But I guess that's why this is a fantasy but maybe just maybe the author was giving us a chance to make the story our own and choose our own ending. At one level we can see this as a modern fairy tale and revel in the childhood dreams of happily ever after, of a handsome prince come to life wisking away is lady fair to his castle forever. But then maybe, just maybe, Jane did actually disappear into her delusional world and she took us along with her. Perhaps she had escaped so successfully that even the reader can not discern fantasy from reality by the end of the story and had escaped into madness with her like in a Poe tale. Since the fantasy element is not thoroughly explained, and we only see the story from Jane's and Michael's point of view, (which in essence if you follow my theory is solely Jane's POV) then we never really know how the outside world perceived Michael. There are clues such as when Vivienne tells Jane to stop living in her fantasy world after she punches Hugh. It appears that Vivienne knows about Michael and may have been protecting her daughter all through her life. When "Michael" has the heart attack could that have been Jane herself allowing Michael to suffer the pain for her? Her visit in the waiting room with the other imaginary friends may have been a near death experience. OK I'm over analyzing this one way too much. But for me that has been far more entertaining than a thinly plotted story about an imaginary friend who inexplicably turns real and lives happily everafter (even having sex) with his former charge. That's just a bit creepy.
On Jane's ninth birthday, Michael informs her that he must leave. She is now officially "too old" for an imaginary friend and must begin to grow up. Devastated Jane never forgets Michael and years later pens a hit play based on her childhood experience with Michael. As the play is ready to be filmed into a major motion picture, Michael reappears into Jane's life and miraculously has become real, or so it seems, though the reader is never let in on how exactly this happens.
On the surface the book is a fast read and a charming tale. The character of Jane is likeable and I could not help being drawn into her world with Michael. However, about half-way through the story I kept looking for something hidden, a plot twist to develop that would put a spin of realism into this absurd tale. By the middle of the book I thought I had it figured out. Jane, it appeared, must be schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder. I was sure that Michael was her alter ego and had re-emerged at a stressful and vulnerable time in poor Jane's life. She has just written a play recounting her childhood experience with Michael, so therefore he had been constantly in her thoughts. Her boyfriend is a narcisistic jerk and her mother an overbearing nightmare. All the clues were there including her anxiety attacks, headaches and bouts with alcohol just prior to Michael reappearance. Also it appeared that initially only Jane could see Michael. Then mysteriously others seemed to see him as well. Or were they merely interacting with Jane who had assumed Michael's persona?
Well, be that as it may. By the end of the book it appeared that my theory was all wrong and indeed Michael was real and had inexplicably become human. Jane's gets to live out her dream and have the perfect fantasy husband. I think I preferred my ending better. Really does anyone get the perfect man? And what kind of message is that? What about a mutual give and take in a real human marriage warts and all?
But I guess that's why this is a fantasy but maybe just maybe the author was giving us a chance to make the story our own and choose our own ending. At one level we can see this as a modern fairy tale and revel in the childhood dreams of happily ever after, of a handsome prince come to life wisking away is lady fair to his castle forever. But then maybe, just maybe, Jane did actually disappear into her delusional world and she took us along with her. Perhaps she had escaped so successfully that even the reader can not discern fantasy from reality by the end of the story and had escaped into madness with her like in a Poe tale. Since the fantasy element is not thoroughly explained, and we only see the story from Jane's and Michael's point of view, (which in essence if you follow my theory is solely Jane's POV) then we never really know how the outside world perceived Michael. There are clues such as when Vivienne tells Jane to stop living in her fantasy world after she punches Hugh. It appears that Vivienne knows about Michael and may have been protecting her daughter all through her life. When "Michael" has the heart attack could that have been Jane herself allowing Michael to suffer the pain for her? Her visit in the waiting room with the other imaginary friends may have been a near death experience. OK I'm over analyzing this one way too much. But for me that has been far more entertaining than a thinly plotted story about an imaginary friend who inexplicably turns real and lives happily everafter (even having sex) with his former charge. That's just a bit creepy.
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