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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved following Zorrie on her life, through the joy and heartbreak and the everyday tragedies. In particular, Zorrie's observations about the natural world struck me. So often books that take place outdoors lack the observations that someone who spends a lot of time outdoors would make, but Hunt took great care to explain her relationship with it just as he would any other character in story. Besides Zorrie herself, the natural world is her oldest friend. They cry together, sharing moments of grief and release, often the only witness to Zorrie's most truthful moments.
This isn't a happy story, but it is hopeful. Hunt pulls on different threads of history to tell Zorrie's story and, while there are moments of light and dark, feels less concerned with any final destination beyond peace for her at the end of it all. As if to say that the every person is part of a larger narrative but the personal journey is what ultimately matters, that it's those private tragedies and miracles that matter most to the shape our lives end up forming.
This isn't a happy story, but it is hopeful. Hunt pulls on different threads of history to tell Zorrie's story and, while there are moments of light and dark, feels less concerned with any final destination beyond peace for her at the end of it all. As if to say that the every person is part of a larger narrative but the personal journey is what ultimately matters, that it's those private tragedies and miracles that matter most to the shape our lives end up forming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Sexual harassment
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A lovely book that takes longer to read than you expect, because you will want to re-read passages and set it down to reflect.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
This quiet novella tells the extraordinary story of one ordinary woman. Zorrie was orphaned at a young age, then again at the age of 21 with the passing of the aunt who had raised her, leaving the young woman to fend for herself in rural, Depression-era Indianna. Zorrie drifts through odd jobs, landing at an Ottawa factory where she becomes one of the “ghost girls” who glow from the radioactive material they touch all day.
With radium still coursing through her veins, Zorrie returns to Indiana where she finds love and community and the satisfaction that comes from hard days managing her farm. As loved ones come and go and the decades slip by, Zorrie works the farm and endures hardship and, in her own quiet way, makes sense of life and faith and friendship and the “fragile film of the present that [is] buttressed against the past.”
This lovely, timeless, and deeply literary story explores themes of grief, dreams, healing, and the linear-yet-cyclical passage of time. It spans decades but is small in scope, focusing solely on our singular protagonist and her insular world. Though the tone is melancholy, the story is shot through with hope, and despite the harshness of Zorrie’s life (very reminiscent of Victoria’s in Go as a River, a book I found gratuitously depressing), the novella length, impeccable prose, and flawless pacing of Zorrie pulled me through the sadness and towards the beauty and inspiration of this woman’s story. This is a recent title, published in 2021, but there is a timelessness to the story and style and I imagine it is a book that will be read and studied for decades to come.
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
With radium still coursing through her veins, Zorrie returns to Indiana where she finds love and community and the satisfaction that comes from hard days managing her farm. As loved ones come and go and the decades slip by, Zorrie works the farm and endures hardship and, in her own quiet way, makes sense of life and faith and friendship and the “fragile film of the present that [is] buttressed against the past.”
This lovely, timeless, and deeply literary story explores themes of grief, dreams, healing, and the linear-yet-cyclical passage of time. It spans decades but is small in scope, focusing solely on our singular protagonist and her insular world. Though the tone is melancholy, the story is shot through with hope, and despite the harshness of Zorrie’s life (very reminiscent of Victoria’s in Go as a River, a book I found gratuitously depressing), the novella length, impeccable prose, and flawless pacing of Zorrie pulled me through the sadness and towards the beauty and inspiration of this woman’s story. This is a recent title, published in 2021, but there is a timelessness to the story and style and I imagine it is a book that will be read and studied for decades to come.
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated