Maame by Jessica George
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“When people are ill to the point of no return to full health, to the person they used to be, some don’t have the stomach to stick around. We don’t appreciate being reminded of our own body’s weaknesses, our lack of control and inevitable mortality.”

This is the story of Maddie who’s been spending her twenties taking care of her dad who has Parkinson’s while her mom is helping with the family business in Ghana and her brother is living his own life instead of helping out. When her mom comes back for a year, Maddie finally moves out and starts living the life she’s been missing out on.

I fell in love with Maddie’s voice almost immediately. She’s struggling yes, and there are cases where she makes choices that absolutely drive you mad and there are situations that make you so sad for her but you also know she’s resilient and strong and you can’t help but root for her.

“It’s an ordinary week within the most extraordinary circumstances because apparently—and this is what everyone fails to mention about the grieving process—I still have to live.”

There are several other topics explored in this story with the central one being around grief, family, racism and friendship. It’s a really beautiful novel that I read in one sitting. Can’t wait to read more of this author.

with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Small World by Laura Zigman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Isn’t everyone’s true purpose to love and be loved? To be in service to and to take care of those who need us most?”

This is a story about two sisters, Joyce and Lydia, who are both going through a divorce and Lydia has moved back from California (where she’s been for a long time) into Joyce’s apartment in Boston. The sisters are living together for the first time since they were kids.

“Do you have a sister, Erin?” She shakes her head. “My point exactly. This is what sisters do. We mess with each other, make each other jealous, punish each other for reasons we don’t even understand.”

The book goes back and forth between the present moment and their experiences growing up where they had a third sister who was disabled and died at the age of ten. Their sister took up all of their mom’s energy the book covers a lot of the impact this had on each of the women (kids.)

“I’ll never forget how he pointed out a ketchup stain on that T-shirt instead of sounding out the letters.” I tell him how Lydia had dyslexia and I had a stutter, but he didn’t make us read the word. “He wasn’t like anyone we’d ever met. He let us be ourselves. And he included us in everything that week.”

Zigman always seems to add a bit of quirkiness into her books and there’s some here, too, but this book is also tender and raw and doesn’t shy away from tough, complex situations of how hard it can be to grow up and complicated family dynamics. It’s a deep and touching story of love, loss, and grief.

with gratitude to edelweiss and Ecco/HarperCollins for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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When We Were Friends by Holly Bourne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Wondering if his love would ever be something I took for granted, rather than treating it like a finite resource I was scared of squandering too quickly.”

Ok I am going to be in the minority on this one.

This is the story of Fern and Jessica who were inseparable best friends for five years during their teenage years before they had a falling out. They haven’t talked to each other in ten years when Jessica shows up in Fern’s life. The book then alternates between telling their story now and telling their story from back then so we can see what caused the falling out.

I know many people loved this book and I sat with it for quite some time after I finished it to pinpoint what bothered me about it. Here’s what it came down to for me: when Bourne is telling us about their friendship as teenagers, she keeps saying how they were best friends but as a reader, I didn’t see any reason why they were. Except Jessica saying she needed Fern. There were no examples of why they meant so much to each other or how they were there for each other. and there are many, many examples to contrary.

I understand that a lot gets revealed towards the end and we finally get to see how close they were but I felt like until that point, I just had to take the authors word for it. I could see all the ways in which they were toxic for each other but none of the reasons why they were good for each other and that made it really hard for me to root for their friendship.

I also felt very triggered by how often the teenage girls were drunk and had sex while they were so drunk that they couldn’t consent and their “friends” were too busy being jealous instead of helping them out of a situation that was clearly rape. What kind of friendship is that? I understand that was part of the point of the plot but I found it to be so disturbing and so sad that I couldn’t understand how people who behave this way could ever really call each other best friends.

I liked the last quarter of the book the most. I liked when they were finally being honest with each other. When they were finally on equal footing. When they finally could see each other’s perspectives. And I cared about each of them and their insecurities. But in the end, there was more about the book that bothered me than not.

with gratitude to Harlequin Trade Publishing and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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