Claire grew up with the legend of the Unsinkable Mounsey Women. Her great-great-grandmother Fanny made headlines in 1915 for washing ashore in England nearly a year after her ship sank. Fanny’s daughter Sarah went to collect her mother on the equally ill-fated Lusitania—whose sinking she, too, survived. Their improbable endurance led to regional stardom on the Midwestern vaudeville circuit. But Claire never knew the full story—until now.
[An] extraordinary tale ... Terrifically comic ... Carusillo is a master of the vigorous and inclusive aside, employing a crackling blend of high and low diction ... Affirms that we can’t necessarily escape the conduct of our predecessors, while gleefully celebrating, one smashing sentence at a time, that there’s alchemy to be found in the hands of the right legatee.
There are funny observations and witty descriptions buried in this text, lines to giggle at, or to be quietly amused. But it is heavy reading. There is so much of this kind of stylized lecturing, consuming the text is fatiguing ... A highly stylized narrative filled with observatory humor, witty phrases, and entertaining eccentricities. The question of authenticity becomes an important plot point, and Carusillo’s inclusion of an eponymous character further blurs these distinctions. There are plenty of pieces here to find something to enjoy, but maybe not all of them all at once.
