Author: Paula Tomas
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2023
Nerdection Rating:
“Nerdection Must Read”
Ripples by Paula Tomas is a modern fiction published in 2023. The book captures how one incident prompts a spontaneous chain reaction of stories, events that play out in the life of four different characters.
Spoiler Free Plot
Sweet Maria recounts her personal experiences as a child, and how things don’t sometimes go the way they are planned. Out of frustration and depression, she almost takes her own life, but that is put on hold by her meeting the love of her life, but in the end, she still takes her life due to losing her husband. This singular act of sweet Maria prompted a reaction from four different characters; Arcus, Gudrun, Swan, and Frieda who take a trip down memory lane to recount their personal experiences and it’s the effect on them.
Arcus grew up in a very strict catholic home with a church fanatic as a mother. He was a closeted homosexual as a little boy and the idea of being gay would be seen as a sin by Jesus and he would go to hell. He recounts his ugly experiences with his loveless mother and the feeling of neglect from his school mates but all that seemed to change when he met his best friend, silvija, who transformed his life and helped him be brave enough to leave his hometown for Berlin to experience a whole new world and be free to find himself.
Gudrun is an elderly woman who struggles with being a nymphomaniac without even realizing it. She recounts how she grew up with her father, a medical practitioner, as her mother passed away when she was only three. She tells her experiences as somewhat okay until she began to experience strong sexual urges after a clueless innocent experience.
Swan is a middle-aged woman who still lives in the imagination of a post-break-up encounter. She explains in a very detailed email while sitting in a café her personal experiences with relationships and break-ups but none ever meant so much as the one, she had with Wentworth, her one true love, who eventually breaks her heart without even an explanation which leaves her devastated. Even after two years of the break-up, she still hasn’t gotten over it but she learns to live with it and she creates her life with him in her imagination, as the imagination is better than reality.
Frieda, a woman in her late forties who is still drawn to her self-absorbed mother, recounts her experiences as a child, growing up with her self-centered, beautiful, talented actress mother was not easy. She always felt like she had to measure up and live up to a certain standard because she always admired her mother and wanted to be like her, but most of all, she just wanted her mother to love her, but that didn’t seem forthcoming. This idea of always wanting to please her mother or feeling like she needs her mother’s approval cost her, her most sincere and greatest love.
My Take on Ripples
The book is a story that captures the very essence and events that happen in our everyday life that most people seem to ignore or take for granted. It reflects on the experiences of life itself and how it affects our decisions, our beliefs, and our balance in the world as individuals.
The reader would find this story captivating and educating as well because it tries to show that people should learn to allow people to be more open and comfortable about their emotions and feelings.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who desperately needs a good read.
About The Author Of Ripples
Paula Tomas has worked as a teacher for 24 years and has an MA degree in novel writing, obtained at Middlesex University in London.
She works and lives in Berlin.
