Date Started: July 24
Date Finished: July 24
One-Word Summary: Fast
The word "fast" comes to mind when I think of how to summarize this book for two main reasons. First, because I finished it so quickly and second, because it felt like the narrator was on over-drive. There were times when I felt like I was reading a giant run-on sentence that just didn't end. She went on and on and on with so many details that it was at points exhausting. But fortunately for me, I was flying back to NYC today so I was able to commit to finishing it in one day. Donezo.
I get that the narrator (Susie) is our driving force in the story but the fact that we never even meet Jonah (her husband) before he is killed off means their story lacks a certain resonance. Maybe that's because we're supposed to be just as mystified as Susie as to whether he was really visiting a prostitute when he was killed - but because of her non-stop protestations about his character, it never really seemed like it would be that cut and dry. We got it -- Jonah was a good guy who wouldn't cheat!
There were two moments of mystery for me -- first, whether Jonah's younger brother Theo had anything to do with his murder (the answer is no -- and I quickly figured that out because he was so obviously made out to be a person who could do it that was clear that he didn't) and second, why Susie's grandmother Ethel, who walked out on Susie's mother when she was eight years old, has suddenly become this compassionate, caring grandmother willing to uproot her life for her granddaughter with whom he has had two previous encounters. I mean I liked Ethel as a character and she certainly seemed like someone you'd love to have as a relative, but believability -- not sure.
This was a fine one-day read but I probably won't ever come back to it again.
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