Reviews

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood

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4.0

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Have you seen the 1993 Michael Douglas movie, Falling Down? As I read through Grace’s trials and tribulations, I kept thinking about that film, only to find out in the author’s notes that yes, in fact, this book was inspired by the movie. So be prepared for a wild ride.

Told in triple timelines, we follow Grace, a 45-year-old linguist whose teenage daughter’s birthday is that day. The daughter is living with her dad, and even though she hasn’t been invited, Grace is determined to deliver a 16th birthday cake to her daughter, Lotte. Something went down with the teen in the recent past, but you have to read the book and flashbacks in order to find out what happened. That’s the second timeline, occurring four months prior. The third timeline is the beginning of Grace’s adult life, when she wins an award and hooks up with a guy named Ben and then subsequently finds herself pregnant. We follow their relationship over the course of the past 17 years.

As a woman of a certain age, I found myself relating to Grace in a lot of ways. Can you say mid-life crisis? There’s teenage drama, a marriage that’s disintegrating, perimenopause, you name it, it’s being thrown at Grace. And she has. had. enough. I do love the fact that while the world around her is falling down around her, Grace, while seemingly suffering a mental health crisis, loses nothing of her forthrightness, feistiness, or humor. There are so many layers to Grace, and slowly, throughout the course of the story, we find them revealed.

For a debut author, I thought Fran Littlewood created a great novel. I’ve not read any of the books it is being compared to, but it certainly held my interest. My only complaint was that there was enough drama in the book to sustain it until it’s end, and then she threw in something else which was wholly unnecessary to drive the story along. It felt like a little bit like the kitchen sink being added. Grace had enough on her plate without adding to it; women can go a little crazy without extreme drama piled on with more drama.

My favorite timeline was the four months prior one, only because I have four teenagers (three girls!) and could predict the drama that surrounded Grace and Ben’s daughter, Lotte. And I did enjoy meeting the feisty Grace prior to having a baby and comparing her to the modern-day, middle-aged woman she became.

If you’re looking for some good women’s fiction and are of a certain age, I highly recommend this book. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Henry Holt in exchange for an honest review; all opinions expressed are my own.