I had an unusual experience with this book. I loved her previous novel, The Peculiar Sadness of Lemon Cake. But I struggled with the beginning of this one. It seemed kind of aimless and a bit confusing time-wise. I got to the 50-page point--yes, I'm one of those with a fairly strict 50-page limit--and turned to Goodreads to see what other people who read the whole book had to say. I often do this, looking particularly at 2- and 3-star reviews to see if the things that bother me in the first 50 pages continue to be a problem, and then I can decide whether to continue. Sure enough, those ratings indicated that several readers found these things to be a problem throughout the book.
But I found I couldn't quite give up. I decided just to read a few more pages and see how things went.
I finished the book in one sitting and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads.
I can see why some people don't like it. It's a very quiet book. There are plot points, yes, but this is more about character. Most of all, it's about Francie, whose mother's mental health has never been stable (and Francie doesn't know who her father was). But when Francie is young, her mother has a horrendous breakdown. Francie is sent from Portland, OR to live with her aunt and uncle in Los Angeles. In the tumult around this enormous change in her life, some peculiar things happen to Francie.
Now, as an adult, she's still trying to sort through the things that happened, trying to recover memories, trying to make sense of everything--all while always having a subconscious fear of whether or not her mother's mental illness might be hereditary (a fear clearly shared by her aunt). Is Francie doomed to end up like her mother?
That's compelling, right? But really got me was that while Francie obviously experiences terrible trauma, author Bender took the approach of surrounding Francie with people who are flawed, yes, but who love her and want to help her. Her own mother loves her very much and in her better moments, realizes that she can no longer care for a child. Her aunt, uncle, and younger cousin make her part of the family, giving her a stability she had never had.
Maybe it's the pandemic, or the nasty aftermath of the US election, but that kindness and love just won me over. It's never sappy or sentimental. Bender is good about reminding us that no person and no family is perfect. But watching this fragile young woman grow up and do the best she can, surrounded by people who are doing the best they can--honestly? I'm choking up right now, just thinking about it. I choked up several times while reading. There are hard things in this book. But there's always kindness. And right now, that's an amazing message of hope.
One other aspect interested me: Much of the book (told first person POV by Francie) uses a very passive voice. That falls into that category "things generally not recommended these days in the literary world." But I think it works beautifully here, as Francie is someone who has little agency and is someone to whom things happen, out of her control, especially as a child. It's no wonder she'd speak in a passive voice.
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