Rachel Wyatt

I have to start of by saying that before picking up this book, I had never heard of Rachel Wyatt so I was a little stunned to discover that she is a prolific award winning writer of novels, short stories, stage and radio plays and has even written non-fiction. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 2002.

Letters to Omar focuses on three women entering their golden years - Dorothy, Kate and Elsie - who have decided to save the world, starting with the plight of the poor villagers in war torn Afghanistan, one charity dinner party at a time. When not coming up with hair-brained schemes for the dinner, Dorothy write letters to famous people, including the actor Omar Sharif, that she never mails; superstitious Kate compiles lists and worries about her young grandson in Afghanistan working for an NGO and Elsie, well, Elsie is trying to understand her husband's sudden obsession for opera. Add into this mix a gaggle of eccentric family members and one artist along with an independent publisher that has managed to insinuated himself into their lives and the story pretty much grows legs of its own.

Wyatt, herself in her 80's, has captured humanity quite vividly and has presented it here in a witty, insightful manner. The best way for me to sum up this novel is to describe it as The Golden Girls meets Four Weddings and a Funeral. A problem I had with the story is that we are only provided with glimpses of the gaggle of interesting characters and all the various sub-plots Wyatt has laced through the story. Sometimes the characters were referenced in a manner I found baffling until an explanation was provided later in the story, making it a little difficult for me to just relax and enjoy it.

I did enjoy the letters Dorothy would write that were interspersed throughout the book. They didn't always have an relevance to the plot, but they did provide an interesting glimpse into Dorothy's character. Dorothy's one-sided correspondence to Omar acts almost as the Dear Diary many have written to in their youth.

Overall, an interesting, witty contemporary story that would have been a great story if the characters and the sub-plots had seen more ink and the story didn't jump around quite so much, confusing the plot at times.… (mais)