My Rating: 4.5 stars rounded up
I'm having a hard time writing this review because I know that nothing I say will be able to do justice to how great this book truly is. I don't feel it's an exaggeration to say that this book was a "masterpiece," a uniquely exquisite work that I am overjoyed to have been given the opportunity to experience and savor. From the very first chapter, up until the very end, and even now, having finished the book, one thought that has consistently entered my mind is the fact that this is Cherise Wolas' debut novel. I am absolutely blown away by how much this book does NOT read like a first novel by an inexperienced writer, as the writing was very polished and engaging, the prose was beautifully rendered, the story was extremely well-written, the characters were well-developed and very very realistic. I also loved the stories within the story – the excerpts from the main character Joan Ashby's short story collections and novels, all of them so different and unique. I can't help but wonder whether, like her character Joan, perhaps Wolas also started writing at a young age, continually perfecting her craft over the years, leading to this spectacular debut novel that reads nothing like a debut. Whatever the case, one thing's for sure – Wolas is an immensely talented writer!
Plot-wise, I don't want to give away too much, though to be honest there really isn't a whole lot to give away in the first place, since there isn't really much "action" that takes place given that this is primarily a character-drive story. The main character Joan Ashby is an extraordinarily talented writer, a voracious reader, magnificent storyteller since youth who, in her early twenties, becomes a literary sensation after publishing 2 short story collections that instantly hit bestseller lists and rake up various awards. Having led a solitary life up to that point, Joan unexpectedly falls in love with Martin Manning, an eye doctor who later becomes famous in his own right, and Joan agrees to marry him under the condition that they enter a pact never to have children. However, things don't go according to plan and not long into their marriage, at the height of her fame as a writer, Joan finds out that she is pregnant – when she sees how happy her husband is at the prospect of becoming a father, Joan makes a decision that alters the course of her life forever: she decides to give up her successful career and dedicate herself to becoming a full-time mother. She eventually raises 2 sons, Daniel and Eric, and it is not until decades later, when both her sons are grown, that she gets the chance to reignite her career, but then a devastating betrayal shatters her hopes and dreams, causing her to rethink all the past choices she made. Even though the story is told from the third person point of view, we get to know Joan Ashby intimately, as we are given the chance to dive deep into her mind as a writer and as a mother, get to understand her innermost thoughts, the motivations behind her actions as she contemplates certain decisions she has to make, etc. We also witness her inner struggle with keeping the "writer" part of herself alive while still devoting herself to a family she did not want but decides to embrace wholeheartedly.
With Joan Ashby, Wolas created a character so vividly real and complex that I truly felt like I was reading a memoir of a real-life writer rather than a fictional story. In fact, I was so invested in Joan's life and journey that, by the time I got to the end of the book, I was a bit saddened at having to say goodbye, as despite her many flaws, I had grown to like Joan and wanted to continue the journey with her -- it was as though a close writer friend I had grown up with suddenly decided to move away, taking with her the fascinating, unfinished stories that she never got the chance to finish telling me. I wanted to continue reading those stories she had written, to read them in their entirety, to get to know the characters more intimately, to know how the stories end – I especially loved the story about Paloma Rosen and to be honest, I felt a little disappointed that I didn't get to read the rest of that story.
Speaking of the excerpts of Joan Ashby's stories, that brings me to the one "complaint" of sorts that I had with this book – minor in the scheme of things for sure, but it still made me struggle with the rating, ultimately settling with 4.5 stars rather than 5. I obviously loved the "stories within the main story" written by the main character Joan, however the part that I didn't really like was how the stories interrupted Joan's life story itself. It was a little distracting to me to be reading about Joan's life for a good number of pages, then all of a sudden there is a long excerpt (at times several pages worth) from one of the stories she wrote, then it picks back up again with her life story. Perhaps because I was so engaged in Joan's own story that I wanted to know what happened next with her and her family without having to be sidetracked by different stories – especially with those stories having such great merit on their own. Maybe having a more structured format with those stories (technically excerpts of the stories) at the beginning or end of the chapters would have been better so that the flow of the main story would've felt less interrupted? I guess it also didn't help that I was reading an ARC version of the book and for some reason, there was no physical differentiation between the main story and Joan's stories until the last third of the book or so when Joan's stories were italicized so I knew where they started and ended. Regardless of this minor issue with the book's format though, I still loved the stories as I said earlier and felt that they really gave me insight into Wolas' range as a writer (since Joan is a fictional character so Wolas technically wrote those stories) – they were indeed fascinating stories, way different from the tone of the book itself in some places!
I don't usually round up when I rate books but I made an exception in this case because to be honest, this book was well-deserving of 5 stars! This was a gem of a book, one that I highly recommend and am actually contemplating buying a physical copy myself once it publishes on August 29th. Oh and if Ms. Wolas ever decides to publish Joan's collection of stories and/or novels in their entirety someday, I will absolutely be one of the first in line to buy them (especially the Paloma Rosen one, which I desperately want to read)!
Received advance reader copy from Flatiron Books via NetGalley
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