“Show me the books she loves and I shall know the woman…“

Thirsty

Kristin Bair O’Keeffe

Set in the late 19th century in a gritty Ohio River Valley steel town, Thirsty is the fictional story of one woman’s struggle to escape the vicious cycle of domestic abuse. Klara Bozic believed she would find a better life in America, with an ocean separating her from the abusive father she left behind in Croatia. But with the shocking discovery that her new husband Drago is just as heavy-fisted, Klara finds she is more trapped than ever. She receives unexpected support from various characters in the community, ranging from headstrong housewives to the local town drunk. Time trudges on and Klara’s children grow amidst a constant domestic nightmare. When her only daughter Sky marries a man as brutish as Drago, Klara must find the courage to finally end the cycle of abuse. Thirsty is a story of the personal wars all people wage, fought both together and alone.

First, I want to make it perfectly clear that I enjoyed Thirsty. In fact I read the entire book in one day but I can not express how frustrated I was with the characters.

Not with the way they were written or the way they were created…no on the contrary. The mere fact that I was frustrated was a wonderful example of the amazing story line and wonderful gift that Kristin Bair O’Keeffe has in telling her tale.

I was frustrated with the circumstances, the reactions, the decision (or lack thereof) from the characters within the book . A few chapters into the book I could feel my frustration at the plight of Klara. I was skeptical of her “quick love” with Drago and quickly dismayed at his abusive attitude and her passiveness. A few chapters further I was angered at the behavior of their children and at the untimely death of her brother in law.  Each chapter brought me further and further into my frustration yet, I could not stop reading or remove myself from the book and the story line.

At the end of the book…when finally peace arrives for Klara and her family…did I then realize that my frustration was a wonderful commendation of Kristin’s writing. Had her situations or personalities not been real and well written I would not have found myself frustrated.  Had she not had the gift to create Klara, Drago and their families in such a “truthful” way I would not have wanted to step in and change their course of life.

Yet, I did. I wanted to shake Klara when she hid her head pretending the life she was living was not hers. I wanted to yell at the children as they created the same world in which they grew up in. I wanted to cry out to God when the “good” was taken away from Klara! Yes, frustration in it’s truest form was in my heart when I read the book.

But “that” is what an author is desiring when he or she writes a book, isn’t it? The desire for the reader to be there…in the middle of the story…to feel their characters joys and pains? Thirsty succeeded in bringing me into the midst of all that was 1883 and Klara Bozic’s life.

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