Clemmie lives a fairly uneventful life in a retirement community in South Carolina. When checking on a neighbor one day, she notices a beautiful glass sculpture unlike anything she’s ever seen. Curious about what it is, she sends a picture of it to her grandnephew and grandniece.
Apparently this sculpture is actually a rig for smoking pot. When her grandnephew shares the picture of the rig on the internet, it turns out there’s a story behind this object—and it was stolen. It’s not long before the owner wants to track down Clemmie and get his rig back.
What Clemmie doesn’t realize is that her carefully crafted life is about to come crashing down around her. She’s been living a secret life for more than 50 years, and apparently her secrets are about to be revealed. And she’s not the only one with secrets—turns out her fellow neighbors have some things to hide, too.
I was excited to read Before She Was Helen because I love when older characters aren’t portrayed as burdens or wise sages, but flawed, complex people. But there were so many competing storylines in this book as well as multiple timelines, that it was hard to keep track of who was doing what, who had done what in their past, and what was happening. (It also made it difficult to find sympathy for these characters.)
I read this as a buddy read and had a great discussion with some friends. We agreed the book needs some trigger warnings for rape, assault, violence, etc. We also agreed that the ending was so rushed (and incomplete) that there were so many unanswered questions and things that didn't quite make sense.
Oh well! On to the next!!
No comments:
Post a Comment