Alpha Bette: One Day, Multiple Points of View (3.5 Stars)

Alpha Bette by Jennifer Manocherian was an interesting read told from multiple points of view. I won this last year in a Goodreads Giveaway.

What You Should Know

This book takes place in one day. A lot is going on. The story is told from multiple points of view. There’s Bette, Bette’s daughter, Bette’s great-granddaughter, Bette’s night aide, Bette’s housekeeper, Bette’s neighbor across the hall, and Bette’s downstairs neighbor. When told from this many points of view, a story can often get confusing. The characters were different enough that I didn’t feel confused. Some characters get more chapters than others. There’s not a pattern or order to who gets the next chapter.

Other than the characters mentioned above, the only really important characters are the daughter’s husband, the great-granddaughter’s boyfriend, their dog, the housekeeper’s daughter, and the medium. I would also say that the granddaughter and Bette’s husband play important parts in the narrative, but only in flashback scenes or reminiscing scenes since both have died. No one else plays a part for more than maybe a scene in the novel.

The main plot is that Bette wakes up one day and decides to host a dinner party that night. She creates invitations and has her housekeeper and night aide deliver them to her family and friends. Everyone is supposed to dress formally, and both her housekeeper and night aide are invited. Bette’s very secretive about why she’s hosting the party.

I felt like the characters felt very authentic. They each have their struggles and insecurities, which in many cases they hide from the other characters.

Clean or Not

This book does have some swearing. There are some mild sexual innuendos but nothing too scandalous. There’s no violence.

It does deal with some serious and potentially difficult topics. There’s the loss of a family member during the COVID pandemic (although not to COVID). There’s the death of a family member in an accident. It talks about physical deformities, which may result in teasing. It also discusses political and religious prejudices. The book talks about cancer, sleeping disorders, and the physical and mental issues associated with aging, including dementia. The medium communicates with the dead, although as a reader, we only hear about it happening. We don’t see it actually taking place.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed this book. For the most part, it’s a solid 4-star book. The ending felt a bit rushed and anticlimactic. I’d be interested to know how the dinner party changed people’s lives and how many of the characters took Bette’s advice and made changes in their lives after the dinner party.