Disclosure: I received this book to review; the post contains my affiliate link.

Oh my, where do I even start with this book?  Even the cover seems to whisper of mystery and a little despair.  Before I tell you my own opinion of it, let me share that The Painted Table is a heart-wrenching story to which many of us can probably relate.  Coming from a broken family, laced with ethnic diversity that seemed to create a wall rather than a melting pot, my own life seemed mirrored in this sad tale.  I, too, remember crawling under the dining room table and watching my parents from afar.  It seemed a safe haven at that time, although even my child’s mind knew it couldn’t protect me from all the pain of the world. As I grew older, I craved my mother’s attention and approval, often outright asking her if she loved me.  My mom would scoff and say that I should know that she did.  As a child, though, I didn’t understand the stress and exhaustion that came with being a single mother.  I only understood that my mother was disconnected and didn’t seem to like me very much.  Now that I’m an adult, I can see things from my mom’s point of view. She’s much better now that her life is a bit easier and she doesn’t have the burden of two children underfoot all the time.  I wish I could go back to those early days; I would have been more of a help to her.  But that’s the sad part of hindsight, isn’t it?  As I reviewed this book, I realized that I had projected those feelings into my own family’s relationships and vowed to be different for my children.  Understanding that the drive to addiction is very real within my family’s roots, I avoided alcohol and drugs throughout my life.  Then I ended up with cirrhosis anyway!!  Ironic, isn’t it?  Yet my children didn’t suffer from the side effects of addiction the way my brother and I did.  Like me, Saffee chose to make a difference for her own family’s sake.

The first few chapters of The Painted Table seem to indicate that Joann would be the main character in this book.  Instead, the true tale lies with her daughter Saffee.  She’s a bright child who observes her mother’s moods but doesn’t understand the depth of her mother’s growing mental illness.  The Painted Table is a very real example of the great divide that occurs when people don’t interact with one another.  Whether it happens within a household or in a community, lack of outreach can bring about a torrent of sadness.  Sweet Saffee tried to compensate for her mother’s standoffish behavior and her father’s detached persona.  Only when she escapes the chasm of her home and attends college does she find out who she really is.  Like Saffee, college was “the real world” for me, too.  The Painted Table is symbolic of a family’s downward spiral.  If you know someone who suffers from mental illness, or if you feel that propensity within your own heart, let The Painted Table be the change in that future.

Suzanne Field is celebrating her novel The Painted Table with a beautiful hand-painted table giveaway!

One winner will receive:

• A beautiful hand-painted table (see it here: http://etsy.me/15L90cD)
• The Painted Table by Suzanne Field

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on January 18th. Winner will be announced January 20th on Thomas Nelson’s Facebook Page.

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by the TNZ Facebook Page on the 20th to see if you won.