Welcome to Litsy!

I closed my eyes and walked down an aisle at the library. A book called to me. I love occasionally finding books this way. This memoir is what I consider to be the real story of what the result was of the Vietnam War. Trussoni‘s father was a ‘tunnel rat‘, entering tunnels to find the enemy or POW‘s. Ultimately, this experience and his divorce broke him. Trussoni spends her childhood/teen years with him even after her mother & siblings move 🔽

“It‘s okay to lose people…Loss is the point. You can‘t take away the grief, the pain, because then what are you left with?”

This was recommended to me a few years ago, but I never got around to reading it. The sequel came out recently, and I finally decided to read this one and I absolutely loved it. All of the characters were great and the ending had me on an emotional roller coaster and I just loved it so much. I can‘t wait to read the next one.

#ReadAway2024 #SeriesLove2024

Persephone fails to see why this is a problem. 😹 She crawled onto the book after I picked up my phone to look up a poet the author mentioned. Silly cat. #CatsOfLitsy

Moving one-sitting read. I liked it, but not nearly as much as the other two #WomensPrize titles I‘ve read (Ordinary Human Failings and Brotherless Night).

Was this a victim of overhype? Should I have read a print copy rather than listening to the audiobook? I‘m not sure but I feel like whatever the multiple nominating committees of various prizes found in this I missed. I appreciated the way squash takes center stage but otherwise was disconnected from the characters.

The description and cover suggest this short novel is all about squash and, while it is, it‘s also about grief, connections, and trying to find your way after major loss. Gopi is 11 when her mother dies, and she and her father cling to the game they both know, steeping themselves in it, as they try to cope with going forward without her. I really liked this and, frankly, didn‘t expect to.

A well crafted story about grief and a family left behind. While I found it interesting that squash was at the center of this - and I learned a lot about the sport from the book and much googling - the characters where a bit basic, and overall the story a bit bland. Unfortunatly this is not a book that is going to stick with me. It was a quick an easy to get through read.

Read for the Women's Prize for Fiction Long List 2024
3⭐

This is the second time I've been surprised to realize Maynard is more than 10 years older than me, because her depictions of life during the time I was growing up are so authentic. This is a suspense story, loosely based on real murders in Marin county, but also a vivid and fascinating look at unsupervised adolescence. The family relationships are loving, flawed and sometimes deeply sad.

#BacklistReadathon