Page Count: 318
Published on: May 2, 2017
Published by: Prospect Park Books
Genre(s): Fiction, Contemporary
Source: Gifted from Liv
Age Rating: TW: adult themes and topics
Where to Find it: Amazon // Goodreads // Book Depository
My Rating: 3 stars
Goodreads Synopsis:
“My father proposed to my mother at gunpoint when she was nineteen, and knowing that she was already pregnant with a dead man’s child, she accepted."
Thus begins this riveting story of a woman's quest to understand her recently deceased mother, a glamorous, cruel narcissist who left her only child, Elsie, an inheritance of debts and mysteries. While coping with threats that she suspects are coming from the cult-like spiritual program her mother belonged to, Elsie works to unravel the message her dying mother left for her, a quest that ultimately takes her to the South African family homestead she never knew existed.
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Trigger Warning: Contains themes revolving around sexual assault, suicide attempts, and eating disorders
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What would you do if your parent was not the person you thought they were; and what would you do if you found out your life was based on a lie? After the death of her mother, Elsie goes on a journey to uncover the lies and secrets of her mother. She is given a box that holds pieces of her mother’s past. Within this box she finds her own death notice where she learns at one time her mother faked both of their deaths and left South Africa to escape hardship. Before her death, her mother had never mentioned the family they had left behind. After learning about the family that she was taken from, Elsie goes on a journey to discover the truth surrounding her mother and relives some of the most heartbreaking moments of her life.
I first came across the novel when Liv sent me a Snapchat of the synopsis. I knew instantly that I wanted to read it from the very first line of the synopsis. I’ve had it for a while, but I choose to put the book off for a while until after finals when I knew I’d have time at work to sit and the desk and read. I wanted to like this book, I really did but some of the themes throughout bothered me and they appeared with no real warning. My boss frowns upon crying while working and this book made the tears fall. Eliza is such a fragile, tormented soul and she had my heart breaking throughout the novel. Her mother on the other hand, made me rage and made me want to scream out loud. Her mother was very problematic and choose to only make herself happy and pretended that her daughter was not there. Her mother’s married boyfriend who she “spiritually” marries in this “group” she was a part of almost made me want to slam my head against a wall. In the end, she does leave him when he admits to doing immoral and terrible things, but by that time, it is too late and she is on her death bed.
I do, however feel that the first line from the blurb “My father proposed to my mother at gunpoint when she was nineteen, and knowing that she was already pregnant with a dead man’s child, she accepted." was very misleading. This alone made me want to read it and it was not the thriller mystery I thought it was. It’s more of a "finding yourself" novel where she is growing up and and learning about her past and coming to terms with it. Not that this is a bad thing, but it did mislead me and my expectations of this book were very different from what the book actually was. It was still a decent book, but in my personal opinion, I would never read it again. The beginning was very promising but the ending and conclusion was very dull and left me wanting more.
Thank you guys for reading!
Courtney
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