Synopsis: The e-mail Danny and Allison read on their new computer in 1996 looks no different from the millions of others received by Web users around the world, with one glaring exception – it was sent by their dads who died during the 1970s.
While residing in the afterworld at an amenity-laden paradise called Midway Manor, guitar-strumming Mickey Parks and piano-playing Lloyd Wallace monitor and manipulate the lives of their adult children on earth from the mid-’70s through the 1990s.
Tampering with the facility’s sophisticated computer, the dads thrust Mickey’s daughter Allison and Lloyd’s son Danny into a passionate but sometimes stormy relationship – a relationship steeped in Danny’s heavy drinking and entangled in the often-zany world of men’s adventure magazine publishing. After carefully implementing a plan to send their son and daughter a gift of knowledge that could enrich their lives forever, the dads’ brief contact is cut short. They are banished to another destination in the afterworld, but not before they impart indisputable proof of life after death – and unwittingly put Danny’s and Allison’s earthbound lives on the line.
4 Stars from me.
This is such an unusual book and so hard to pin a rating on, but I’ve settled on 4 stars because the story telling and writing ability were excellent.
It lost a star because of the old-fashioned additions of readers hooks – like the last two lines on page 20, personally I’d delete all of them! Also for the continued acceptance of infidelity. I don’t really know what that was meant to add to the book, evidence of forgiveness maybe? I don’t know, but for me it just detracted from the characters and their lives rather than adding anything.
The book poses a wonderful ideal for life after death; the idea of Midway Manor with its incredible data room and Reunion Valley where you can catch up with lost loved ones is delightful.
I found Stardust Dads to be a really sweet and enjoyable read, it’s life affirming message is clear as is the message not to bank on the afterlife but to enjoy the short time we each have on Earth. It is very well written and easy to read, I think this is a real achievement especially given that it is written by a husband and wife team. Personally I couldn’t see any conflict in styles and I would’ve guessed it was written by one person.
Given the premise this could have been a patronising, mushy tale but it wasn’t, it was a descriptive, entertaining and a very charming book. It isn’t a genre I would usually tend to select but I still found it a really good read and actually read it in just 2 days which shows how keen I was to keep turning pages! I think David and Josephine George could easily turn their hand to romance novels or crime novels and fit in very nicely on the mainstream shelves.
