A review by don_delexapro
What We Both Know by Fawn Parker

challenging dark

Some decidedly challenging subject matter between the covers here. Stylistically, I found it densely personal to the narrator and almost tunnel-visioned in its focus. The world of this book is very small and very closely examined (maybe over-examined if you’re psychoanalysing Hillary). I found myself tripping over and getting lost in some of the narrator’s more poetic ruminations (likely as a defence from the psychically difficult content) and engaged by similarly styled passages that were tied to characters outside of the narrator. Not a choreful read but extremely emotionally affecting at times in a way that made me exhale loudly. The central plot necessarily invites audacious and daring themes and I enjoyed following the narrator’s process. Aging parents, legacy, family secrets, loss, grief, death, sexuality, personhood, independence, impotence, persistence. An explosive bundle of nerves. Kind of a bummer (bummer? I barely know her! lol).