THE LATE, LAMENTED MOLLY MARX – Sally Koslow
Ballantine (Hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-345-50620-7
May 2009
Women’s Fiction

New York, New York – Present Day

I am Molly Divine Marx, and I am dead. Right now, I am looking down upon my funeral, and wondering where I will go from here...

Molly doesn’t remember how she died. What she does remember is riding her bicycle along the Hudson River. She remembers the pain. Then there was nothing. Now, she’s watching her husband, Dr. Barry Marx, give the eulogy. After Barry leaves the podium, her best friend, Sabrina Lawson, (or Brie, as Molly calls her) takes the stage. There are people packed into the synagogue, some that Molly has never met, many of them women, probably Barry’s patients. Molly’s husband is a plastic surgeon, and his specialty is women, in and out of his practice; having cheated on Molly since the very day of their wedding. Barry’s mother, the snooty Kitty Katz, encourages this behavior. In Kitty’s opinion, her son does no wrong, he’s just a man, after all. Molly’s parents, Claire and Daniel Divine, are devastated, and so is Molly’s twin sister, Lucy. Lucy is a little crazy, and she’s just as different from Molly as she can be.

So begins the story of Molly’s search for her demise as she reaches beyond the grave to observe her life as it was. Her biggest concern is losing her four-year-old daughter, Annabel. The girl doesn’t understand where her Mommy has gone and she reacts with silence. In the meantime, a personage named Bob from a place called Duration shows up to guide the bewildered Molly through her new skills, or powers as Bob calls them. Molly now has the ability to pop in anywhere she likes and read people's thoughts.

THE LATE LAMENTED MOLLY MARX is a compelling book that takes the reader on a journey along with Molly as she tries to discover how and why she died. This atypical chick lit novel is narrated in Molly’s first person voice and the characterization is spot on. That said, I did not like many of the characters. The only thing we know about them is what Molly tells us in her musings, but for the most part, these people are not the most honorable. The only innocent character in this book is Annabel, Molly’s daughter. Molly’s parents, however, do seem to be compassionate people, along with her sister Lucy and her friend Brie. Each of them truly loves Molly, while most of her other acquaintances seem to have their own hidden agendas. As for Molly, as likable as she is, it is hard for me to cozy up to a heroine who condemns her husband for cheating while she is doing the same thing. And even though the mystery of Molly’s death is intriguing, there is no story here; the pages simply lead us through the paces of Molly’s dull and depressing marriage.

This aside, I love the character of New York Police Detective Hiawatha Hicks, who is responsible for investigating the circumstances of Molly's death. Detective Hicks is one special person and not much gets by him --- and he's honest! His personality sparkles where the other personalities in these pages are deceitful. Now that I have told you my opinion of THE LATE LAMENTED MOLLY MARX, I guess you know that I really did not enjoy the journey; yet maybe something of it will stay with me, maybe not. I cannot identify with these characters, but I would like to think that perhaps the author’s intent is to show the foibles of human nature and point out that we should live in the here and now, not the future, and never in the past. I also hope that Molly learned a lesson in her search, albeit too late to do her any good, but maybe in her next life she will get it right.

Diana Risso