Author: Anissa Gray
Publication Information: Berkley. 2019. 304 pages.
ISBN: 1984802437 / 978-1984802439
Book Source: I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.
Opening Sentence: "You do a lot of thinking in jail."
Favorite Quote: "Handing them off ... and disappearing ... because you think you've lost yourself along with everything else .. that's almost easy. Showing up, when it's everything you can do to crawl and claw your way through this life? That's hard. That much I've done. I'm doing it right now."
Girls and women hunger for many things. There is the universal need for physical nourishment, and then, there is the hunger for love, protection, caring, belonging and other needs often left unsaid.
The understanding that this is the theme of the book comes slowly. The book is slow to start and slow to unfold especially as it seems to begin in the middle of the story. It starts as a woman goes to jail. The crime is unclear. The motivation for the crime is unclear. What is clear is that parents are going to jail and leaving behind daughters.
My initial thought is that the past is going to be unraveled. How did this family at the junction of the Saint Joseph and Portage Rivers in New River Junction, Michigan, get to this point? Hence, initially, I am confused. In fact, the facts of the crime, the motivation behind it, and its impact are never really delved into. That is something I would still like to know, but it does not really matter. At some point, the fact that I want to know becomes a testament to the fact that I am pulled into the story and the characters have become real.
Althea, Lilian, and Viola are the older generation. Kim and Baby Vi are Althea's teenage daughters. Althea and her husband Proctor are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and sent to jail for a crime no one could imagine them committing. Althea, Lilian, and Viola's stories go back to the their childhood and their own dysfunctional childhood. Those childhood experiences also create the women they are today and their reactions to the current situations. Reader beware, some of the images of that childhood are disturbing. The story becomes about taking the experiences that form you and then creating yourself - the person you choose to be:
The best thing about this debut novel is that the characters become real. They develop into complete individuals. In some ways, the cover of the book replicates that. Initially, I look at it and see an abstract image. Then, gradually I see the the curves and edges of the images. Then, it seems that all of a sudden, faces emerge. This book is an impressive debut, and I look forward to seeing what Anissa Gray writes next.
Girls and women hunger for many things. There is the universal need for physical nourishment, and then, there is the hunger for love, protection, caring, belonging and other needs often left unsaid.
The understanding that this is the theme of the book comes slowly. The book is slow to start and slow to unfold especially as it seems to begin in the middle of the story. It starts as a woman goes to jail. The crime is unclear. The motivation for the crime is unclear. What is clear is that parents are going to jail and leaving behind daughters.
My initial thought is that the past is going to be unraveled. How did this family at the junction of the Saint Joseph and Portage Rivers in New River Junction, Michigan, get to this point? Hence, initially, I am confused. In fact, the facts of the crime, the motivation behind it, and its impact are never really delved into. That is something I would still like to know, but it does not really matter. At some point, the fact that I want to know becomes a testament to the fact that I am pulled into the story and the characters have become real.
Althea, Lilian, and Viola are the older generation. Kim and Baby Vi are Althea's teenage daughters. Althea and her husband Proctor are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and sent to jail for a crime no one could imagine them committing. Althea, Lilian, and Viola's stories go back to the their childhood and their own dysfunctional childhood. Those childhood experiences also create the women they are today and their reactions to the current situations. Reader beware, some of the images of that childhood are disturbing. The story becomes about taking the experiences that form you and then creating yourself - the person you choose to be:
- "Sometimes life can pull a lot out of you, Althea. Just squeeze you dry. And if you don't have a way to get back whatever's good and precious to you, it's like losing your soul."
- "Some things that happen to you, or the way somebody treat you, sometimes it ain't got nothing to do with you ... That's something it's important to learn. Before you get too old and can't let loose the burden of them things."
- "Sometimes it's good to view the past from the distance of another time."
The best thing about this debut novel is that the characters become real. They develop into complete individuals. In some ways, the cover of the book replicates that. Initially, I look at it and see an abstract image. Then, gradually I see the the curves and edges of the images. Then, it seems that all of a sudden, faces emerge. This book is an impressive debut, and I look forward to seeing what Anissa Gray writes next.
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