I want to babysit for Ursula Wong.

The main character (sort of) within Ingrid Hill's novel 'Ursula, Under' is a precocious little girl named Ursula Wong. Her dad, Justin, is a Chinese-Polish (yup, you read correctly) blue collar worker and harmonica player (musician if you will). Annie, Ursula's mom, is a quiet but colorful librarian who barely escaped from an alcoholic father not long after her beloved mother died. Annie as a young girl was struck by a car while out riding on her bicycle and as a result, is crippled for life. Given her painful emotional and physical experiences growing up, as well as her love for adventure [and literature], she sets out with her husband to delve deeper into her family's origin; roots, if you will. Fate brings the small family to a former mining town in middle America where Annie searches for the cave where her great-grandfather died, years before. The rambunctious and active Ursula runs down an abandoned road to follow a deer and falls down an old mine shaft, and thus the story begins. I will admit that while I immensely enjoyed each of the mini stories within this novel, the tales of Ursula's ancestors, from which she came to be, I couldn't always follow the lineage trail. I got the general gist, and that coupled with the charm of each story/chapter, gave me a solid appreciation for this book. I found the characters to be likable, sympathetic, exasperating, angering, delightful, and admirable. I read this in just two settings, and with the complexity it boasts chapter to chapter; I might recommend that any reader attempt to do the same. 'Ursula, Under' forced me to question my heritage and wonder about all the great-great grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and cousins who have/had stories I have never heard. The fables or stories throughout the book all lend weight to the same question....how do you measure a life? A profound and thoroughly enjoyable novel...and the last before my half-way point. Happy reading!