Author Origin: East Vancouver, BC - lives in North Burnaby, BC
Page Count: 264
Genre: Fiction with a taste of the crime genre
Difficulty: moderate
Grade Level: 12+
Key Talking Points: The difficulties of family relationships, types of grief and coping mechanisms
Sensitive Subject Matter: Abuse (both sexual and physical), rape, death, incest, and also positive sexuality
Warning: This is not the type of book that gives you a pat ending- so if you need that, read it anyway but be prepared!
I bought this book at the Festival of Literary Diversity, (May 4-7 in Brampton, Ontario) after listening to Jen Lee speak at the "What a Crime" panel. As it was with most of the panels at the festival, it went a different direction than was expected, but in a way that gave interesting perspectives on the set topic. With this novel, for example, the crime that sets the plot in motion really isn't at the heart of the story- the story is much more about family, and grief, and identity.
Summary: In the wake of the death of her mother, Jessica and her father discover a dead body in the freezer in her mother's basement. This isn't a spoiler, it says something very similar on the book jacket. The story isn't really a "whodunnit"- we very quickly realize there really isn't anyone else it could be. Why is the question that Jessica struggles with. Her family has always been the type that does good; her father was an environmental activist lawyer, she is a social worker who writes the biographies for children in need of adoption, and her mother was a career foster parent. So why and how would her mother be driven to murder? Or was it a tragic accident that she was trying to cover up? As Jessica tries to put the pieces together through her own investigation, she journeys through varied layers of the past- that of others and herself- uncovering and decoding the mystery through her own memory. Throughout the novel there are chapters told from perspectives other than Jessica's, clearly noted in the chapter titles, and these help us to learn along with her, as if we are being told the stories ourselves, instead of once removed through her narrative. This helps to round out some of the other characters in the story besides our main protagonist and also allows us to feel compassion for some of the characters we would naturally want to dislike.
Teacher Note: Since I think this book would be best suited for a more mature, senior level student reader, it would fit into the grade 12 English curriculum where you have to apply critical literary theories. Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Neo-Marxism could all be applied to the text, with the strongest connections in that order. The sensitive issues mentioned above are integral to the story, and are handled in a way that you clearly understand the devastation and implications of them, but are not overly graphic. Still, whether you use this in your classroom or not would depend on how unconventional you're willing to be, and I'd definitely say to use it as an ISU rather than a core text so that you can ensure the right reader gets it.
As a character, Jessica is not the most likable, while still being easy to understand and relate to. She often says things that she recognizes are completely inappropriate a second later, inwardly cursing herself. She also postpones important decisions as she weighs what is easy with what is best for her, something we all are guilty of at one time or another. I love Jessica's father and wish I had more of him in the story. His reactions to everything that is happening just make me want to hug him. Other side characters come and go and play their parts well, although I feel like Trevor's descriptions get a little repetitive at times and just plain mean- then again, I understand how people can obsess over specific parts of each other, and Jessica is in a very transitional time so her cruelty can be somewhat forgiven. ***SPOILER COMMENT: There are also some questions I have about how all of her bumbling and ridiculous wardrobe choices still make Jessica attractive enough for a policeman to risk his job over, but, again, inappropriate decision making by adults seems to be a bit of a theme in the book.
Final thought: This is a fast, intriguing read. There are enough questions to pique the interest of 48 Hour Mystery and CSI fans like me, but it also goes deeper than that, right to the heart of what it means to be human- empathetic in the struggle to be accepting of our fallible selves.
📚 Ms. CAN Lit
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