My New Friend, "TUESDAY MOONEY TALKS TO GHOSTS" by Kate Racculia

 

Me and my new friend, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia. My new pal is set in Boston, giving me an excuse to show my Red Sox pride here. 

Hi. I'm Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books... well, and sometimes the occasional binge watch of Twin Peaks, or favorite horror movies. In this way, I am much like the title character of my new friend. Shall I introduce you?

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

Another loner who loves books once recommended Kate Racculia's second novel  Bellweather Rhapsody, and I read up on it and it sounded like a book that I would enjoy and that would speak to me. I knew it was at my library, but the day I went to check it out, it had just been culled for their annual book sale. Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts was still available, and after reading the blurb, I decided it would be fun. 

I have since purchased and received a reasonably priced copy of Bellweather Rhapsody from an independent bookstore. I look forward to it. 

ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Tuesday Mooney fancies herself a loner. She enjoys her work researching rich people for the purpose of fundraising at the hospital, she enjoys tutoring her teenage neighbor Dorry, and enjoys the occasional night out playing karaoke roulette with her friend Dex. But the prospect of being needed makes her feel uneasy, ever since her best friend Abby disappeared when they were teenagers, and subsequently started talking to her in her mind. 

Tuesday also loves puzzles and mysteries, so when an eccentric billionaire named Vincent Pryce dies, after setting up an elaborate treasure hunt for the city to play, Tuesday is sucked into the excitement and the adventure of it all. And while she becomes a bit of a local celebrity when she discovers the initial clues, her world gets intertwined with that of a billionaire family, with one brother who might be dangerous, and another who might be a potential boyfriend. 

And, after years of silence, Abby starts talking to her again. 

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

I could talk about the fun literary and pop culture references that abound in these pages. I could talk about the fun banter, the quirky set ups, and the love letter to the city of Boston. I could talk about the little twists and mysteries along the way.  

But for me, what really hits me in the imagination here are the characters, especially the main characters, who Racculia creates with such care. Tuesday Mooney is a complex character who isn't always likeable, but who you like and root for anyway. She has practiced cutting herself off from the world, especially since the disappearance and presumed death of her best friend. It is easier to be alone, to need anyone and not be needed. To remain a mystery, even to herself. 

Her friend Dex is a great creation, and it is refreshing, in my opinion, that the character is informed by but not defined by being a gay man in Boston in 2012. Dex dreamed of being a musical theater performer, but found himself rising in the ranks of finance, a job that he is very good at even if it makes him feel awful a good portion of the time. He is also longing to know his true self. 

Dorry, the young woman who Tuesday tutors, is another wonderful creation, perhaps my favorite. She has lost her mother, and does have desperate need for connection, to the extent that the first she really met Tuesday, she hugged her. She wishes she could talk to ghosts. 

The side characters are fun too, especially Lyle, the widow of the eccentric Vincent Pryce. 

TAKEAWAYS

I had a fun time reading this book, and also, as a performer myself, appreciated the journey of the character Dex. It is not easy to navigate this life, and the book explores this theme, and comes to the conclusion that it is easier to do so with people you love, need and care about--- and while this might sound simple, it is actually deeper and more complex than one might think. 

Could 20 pages have been cut along the way?  Maybe, but in doing so, it might take away from the great character stuff that really made the book for me. 

Thanks for reading my thoughts on Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts. Please feel free to share yours in the comments below....