Book Review: The Rooms Are Filled

The Rooms are Filled: A Novel. Jessica Vealitzek. She Writes Press, April 22, 2014, Trade Paperback and Kindle, 236 Pages.

Reviewed by Vicky Edwards.

The Rooms Are Filled, a new novel set in the 1980s by Jessica Null Vealitzek, sees beyond nostalgia of the time to remind us that the era was not immune to feelings of powerlessness and alienation. Homosexuality was sometimes feared and often mocked, grief therapy was rare, and bullying might be seen as boys just being boys. Whether you were the new kid in school, a child in a dysfunctional family, or an adult struggling with his or her sexual orientation, there were plenty of clubs that didn’t want you as a member.

The story begins in 1983, as a Minnesota family is devastated by the loss of the Anne’s husband and young Michael’s father. They can’t keep the family farm, and unhappily move to a suburb of Chicago, where Anne’s brother can make a new life financially possible.

Michael inadvertently raises the ire of a bully in his new school, and it is painful to watch this innocent nine year old struggling with both his grief and his outcast status. The new teacher, herself a recent arrival to the Chicago area, sees what Michael is going through, perhaps because she is also suffering. Although she has tried to escape her feelings of love for a woman, she too has raised the ire of a local bully--a police officer whose advances she has spurned, leading him to save his bruised ego by openly questioning whether she is a lesbian.

The parallels are interesting, and it is a relief to find the teacher and the student able to connect with each other. Many minor characters are also struggling with their own searches to fit in, providing believable supporting evidence that people need to focus on their similarities and not their differences. The story moves at a fast pace, building toward confrontations that make us grateful that the world is a more enlightened place these days.

There are multiple flashbacks to establish the closeness of Michael’s relationship with his now-deceased father and this occasionally causes a few re-reads of passages to mentally establish chronology. The introduction of Rose and Julia is also jarring in the “Wait, do I know who this is?” way. Although the writing is not seamless in getting the back stories and characters established, any confusion is cleared as the story moves forward.

This is a first novel for Jessica Null Vealitzek, and she has struck a good balance between reminding us of icons of the times and telling a story that cautions us that we need to be inclusive and understanding of those who are different, no matter what the era. Although this is not a literary masterpiece (some of the characters and settings feel stereotypical), it is a good read that shows promise.

Jessica Null Vealitzek was born and raised northwest of Chicago, where she now lives with her husband and two children. She is a former reporter and a political communications director.