Earlier this year, I read Nancy Richler's Imposter Bride. (See the goodreads page here.)
Canadian writing in tone is rather distinct, if you aren't familiar with it. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a bit dry, a bit humorous, a bit irreverent, a bit nuanced, a bit reliant on landscape...
I love Canadian writing style, and this book is chock full of it.
If you are looking for crazy adventure. there are books out there for you. This is not one of them.
This book is a window into an extraordinary situation that, in context, I suppose is not really so extraordinary.
Pretend you live down the street from a family who likes to keep their windows open all the time. As you walk by their house periodically, you cannot help but notice certain things. The more that time goes by, the more pieces you get to the story of their lives. You never get the whole story, but you get pieces.
This book is kind of like that window.
The shifts in narration and movements through time highlight the story of Lily and her daughter, Ruth. This novel is a character piece, set against a backdrop of the aftermath of World War II. You cannot separate this from the story itself.
But this story is also about women, about the connections we share. The idea of family is central here.
“I never really knew her," I said. "But you loved her," Ida answered, and again I wasn't sure if she meant that as an accusation or comfort. Was it less important or more important to know someone than to love them?
Good question.
Love takes so many forms, and familial love may be the most complex of all.
If you are looking for a book that neatly ties up all loose ends, answers all questions, and leaves everyone as better people with perfect closure, you probably aren't going to appreciate this book.
Spoiler Alert! Stop reading now if you are anti-spoliers!
Anyone still with me?
Okay.
At the end of the book, Ruth does get to meet Lily. She doesn't get her answers, and she doesn't really ask. There is no crazy moment of angels singing and harps playing and fireworks booming as mother and daughter embrace.
Some people have criticized the book for this. I applaud it.
By the time the two women meet, they have both moved on. Their lives are not intertwined; they only intersected. Both women are relatively well-adjusted in their respective lives. That is the closure that is the focus of the story, not their meeting itself.
Ruth missed her mother. But, as Ruth grew, love and family in other forms surrounded her, and she ended up okay. In fact, she was perhaps more well-adjusted than she would have been had Lily stayed, in her haunted, distracted state. We don't need more closure than that.
I enjoyed this book. Have you read it? What is your favourite book about relationships between women or within family? I would love to read your comments! Please add them below.