It’s official, my summer break has begun, which hopefully means more time for reading and blogging! I didn’t really plan to write this morning, but I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity while my cat sits in front of the open patio door watching the birds and squirrels to tell you about two books I read recently.
The first is the latest book by Lisa Jewell and a total departure from her usual domestic thrillers, Breaking the Dark, the first in the “Jessica Jones” series. In case you, like me, have never heard of Jessica Jones, she’s a minor superhero in the Marvel comics. In this novel, she’s been disgraced and is now living in New York as a private investigator, stumbling from one day to the next and one drunken night to the next. When she’s contacted by a distraught mother who is convinced her twin teens, recently returned from a month in the English countryside with their father, have been replaced, Jessica nearly doesn’t take the case, but after looking at photos of the kids with their flawless skin and vacant eyes, she reluctantly accepts. Jessica goes undercover and travels to the small village where their father lives, where she finds that all is not what it seems and she’s drawn into the dark, duplicitous world of an online influencer whose dirty little secret needs to be revealed before more people are killed in the name of perfection. I don’t want to give anything away because, while this story is totally far-fetched, it’s actually not as unbelievable as it may at first seem, and the best part about the book is the slow reveal of each piece of the puzzle until it forms the whole picture. It was not the kind of book I would normally read but it was so well-written that it had me gripped from the opening pages to the final paragraph.
The next book I read was one I picked up from a Little Free Library in my neighbourhood, which had a really interesting cover. Self-Portrait with Boy by Rachel Lyon tells the story of an artist in New York trying to make it in the early ‘90s. Lu Rile is a photographer who is literally a starving artist, as she works part-time at a Whole Foods and is just managing to survive by stealing food from her workplace so she can not spend money for food in order to pay her rent. She lives in an old abandoned factory with a bunch of other artists, and while these are not official apartments, the owner of the building continues to charge rent but refuses to offer even the most basic maintenance. She needs a big break, and has been taking self-portraits every day for over a year. At the start of the novel, she’s setting up for Self-Portrait #399 in her run-down apartment, a photo of her leaping in front of her window to simulate flying, but what she also catches in the faintest image of a boy falling from the roof, the young son of the artist couple who lives on the floor above her. It’s a brilliant photo, the kind of photo that could launch her career as an artist and get her taken seriously in the artistic community, but how can she exploit her neighbours’ grief and tragedy? This dilemma is made more difficult as she becomes close to Kate, the boy’s mother, while she navigates her grief. To complicate things even further, the owner of the building wants to sell and is trying to force everyone out, but some of the artists have been there for decades and feel they have legitimate squatters’ rights to remain. And Lu needs money to help her elderly father with his cataract surgery. Lu’s moral struggles are mirrored by the deterioration of the building in which she lives, and I as the reader was pulled down into the depths of this ethical dilemma. And even as I knew what the outcome would be, I travelled the winding road to reach this final decision along with Lu. And while I may not agree with her choices, when considering her situation and putting myself in her shoes, it was a sobering moment when I realized that I may have made the same choice, too. I found this book to be extremely engaging, the type of book I would certainly have enjoyed reading when I was in my twenties and trying to make a go of things in Toronto, but I was still able to relate to Lu even decades after moving on from those years of struggle. It was a coming-of-age story and a look at the effects of gentrification, and offered real insight into the struggles that artists face when trying to break into the market, to get recognition for their work and make a living doing what they love instead of working menial jobs to make ends meet. I really enjoyed it and would never have discovered this little gem if not for the Free Little Library, one of many in my neighbourhood. So if you’re passing one of these little libraries, it’s always a good idea to check the contents… you never know what might be inside!
That’s all for today! Have a wonderful rest of the week and remember to keep reading!
Bye for now... Julie
