Life on the refrigerator door by Alice Kuipers

Life on the refrigerator door is a book that is based on the written exchanges that take place between a overworked mother and her young teen daughter. The mother and daughter keep on missing each other, so the written messages are their main mode of communication. Kuipers made the book (which is fiction) seem very realistic by keeping the same format of short messages for each page of the book. At first this takes a bit of getting used to reading such short passages on each page, but then you soon come to realize that it is also part of the experience of reading this story and makes it seem more realistic overall. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but the main theme of the story is that the mother and daughter keep on missing each other, then some major events happen to the mother and the majority of the story deals with how their relationship is affected. Overall the book had some very good morals and lessons that could be learned from reading it. I also think that this book would be better to discuss in a book club or a discussion group because there are many themes and topics that could be explored, but as an individual reader there is not really much for one individual to think about once the story has been read (if that somewhat makes sense). The book, while it seemed like it would be a long read was actually much shorter and faster to read that I expected. I actually got through the book on my lunch hour, so it was quite a quick read. My overall opinion of the book was that it took an interesting concept and made it seem more realistic by the layout of the text. I kind of felt like I was reading notes that were being passed around by two friends-, which I guess, was the authors’ original intention.
More info on this book can be found at: http://www.harpercollins.ca/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0002006790
ISBN: 9780002006798; ISBN-10: 0002006790; On Sale: 09/11/2007; Format: Hardcover; Pages: 240; $19.00(CAN)
-also interesting to note that at the back of the copy of my book is a sticker that states: "Let us know what you thought! Leave a message for the author at (647) 477-2113. I have not tried calling yet, but I guess maybe I should...I wonder if that really? is the authors phone number...