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A review by booksuperpower
We All Love the Beautiful Girls by Joanne Proulx
4.0
We all Love the Beautiful Girls by Joanne Proulx is a 2018 Grand Central publication.
This is an incredibly absorbing tale, set in Canada, which weaves around Mia and Michael, an affluent couple with a teenage son, named Finn.
In a very short span of time, this couple, who feel so very blessed and sure of their worthiness of such bliss, will see their world come crashing down around them. As their heartbroken son, Finn, lays out in the elements, barely surviving his ordeal, lucky that he only lost a hand to frostbite, Michael learns his best friend and business partner, Peter, has been embezzling funds and robbed him of his partnership in their company, leaving him flailing in the wind.
Finn will relate his teenage saga in a first- person narrative, which brings the angst, drama, and pecking order of the teenage fiefdoms into sharp focus. Finn is in love with his former babysitter, who also has a relationship with Eric, Finn’s best friend Eli’s older brother. This is not the only love triangle, as ironically enough, Peter’s daughter, Frankie, is in love with Finn, While Eli is in love with Frankie. Whew! Got all that? It was a little hard to keep up with it all. It also reminded me of that old song, “Love Stinks”.
After Finn suffers the loss of his hand, Mia is left holding the bag in the care and nursing department, while her husband strikes up an odd relationship with a baseball obsessed street kid. As Mia grows weary of Michael’s absences, she begins playing a dangerous game, flirting with a full -fledged affair.
All the while Mia and Michael are so busy feeling sorry for themselves and acting out in peculiar, immature ways, pointing fingers and rationalizing their behavior, they fail their son in every way imaginable. It seemed like everything was about them. These parents were totally clueless about what was going on with Finn, leaving him to muddle through without their full emotional support.
Nope, not too many likeable characters in this one. I really couldn’t summon up much empathy for the adults in this novel at all. But, I did feel that powerful mixture of teenage confusion and pain. Most of us lived through some version of this and then saw our own children through it. It’s a period most of us would never chose to live through again, and if we were being honest, we all still carry the scars from those years, as those experiences shaped us more than perhaps any other, even the formative years. Yet, we make it through, bloodied and bruised, maybe a little less naïve, a little battle fatigued, more prepared for the full -fledged assault adulthood will present. Finn’s situation, of course, makes his journey out much more of a challenge, and while teenagers are often the cruelest of creatures, this was the part of the story that made me feel something.
But, the writing is interesting, with a switch between first -and third person narratives, and the author’s obvious homage to Canada was mesmerizing. Proulx allowed her home country to become a centerpiece of the story, almost playing as large of a role as the characters.
The story barrels along towards what looks like an inevitable train wreck, and all the reader can do is hope there won’t be too many casualties. The story is, however, realistic and messy, like real life, when things suddenly to hell in a handbasket. It’s turbulent, dark, moody, and yes, a little depressing.
The conclusion is not all that pat or cheerful and did not end like one may have hoped. Yet, there is some light at the end of the dark tunnel. Eventually a little character growth develops, a new appreciation for what really matters in this world, and the realization that we can never take anything for granted, that life can turn on a dime, and we should be aware every second of every day, especially with those closest to us- and that goes double for your children.
3.5 stars
This is an incredibly absorbing tale, set in Canada, which weaves around Mia and Michael, an affluent couple with a teenage son, named Finn.
In a very short span of time, this couple, who feel so very blessed and sure of their worthiness of such bliss, will see their world come crashing down around them. As their heartbroken son, Finn, lays out in the elements, barely surviving his ordeal, lucky that he only lost a hand to frostbite, Michael learns his best friend and business partner, Peter, has been embezzling funds and robbed him of his partnership in their company, leaving him flailing in the wind.
Finn will relate his teenage saga in a first- person narrative, which brings the angst, drama, and pecking order of the teenage fiefdoms into sharp focus. Finn is in love with his former babysitter, who also has a relationship with Eric, Finn’s best friend Eli’s older brother. This is not the only love triangle, as ironically enough, Peter’s daughter, Frankie, is in love with Finn, While Eli is in love with Frankie. Whew! Got all that? It was a little hard to keep up with it all. It also reminded me of that old song, “Love Stinks”.
After Finn suffers the loss of his hand, Mia is left holding the bag in the care and nursing department, while her husband strikes up an odd relationship with a baseball obsessed street kid. As Mia grows weary of Michael’s absences, she begins playing a dangerous game, flirting with a full -fledged affair.
All the while Mia and Michael are so busy feeling sorry for themselves and acting out in peculiar, immature ways, pointing fingers and rationalizing their behavior, they fail their son in every way imaginable. It seemed like everything was about them. These parents were totally clueless about what was going on with Finn, leaving him to muddle through without their full emotional support.
Nope, not too many likeable characters in this one. I really couldn’t summon up much empathy for the adults in this novel at all. But, I did feel that powerful mixture of teenage confusion and pain. Most of us lived through some version of this and then saw our own children through it. It’s a period most of us would never chose to live through again, and if we were being honest, we all still carry the scars from those years, as those experiences shaped us more than perhaps any other, even the formative years. Yet, we make it through, bloodied and bruised, maybe a little less naïve, a little battle fatigued, more prepared for the full -fledged assault adulthood will present. Finn’s situation, of course, makes his journey out much more of a challenge, and while teenagers are often the cruelest of creatures, this was the part of the story that made me feel something.
But, the writing is interesting, with a switch between first -and third person narratives, and the author’s obvious homage to Canada was mesmerizing. Proulx allowed her home country to become a centerpiece of the story, almost playing as large of a role as the characters.
The story barrels along towards what looks like an inevitable train wreck, and all the reader can do is hope there won’t be too many casualties. The story is, however, realistic and messy, like real life, when things suddenly to hell in a handbasket. It’s turbulent, dark, moody, and yes, a little depressing.
The conclusion is not all that pat or cheerful and did not end like one may have hoped. Yet, there is some light at the end of the dark tunnel. Eventually a little character growth develops, a new appreciation for what really matters in this world, and the realization that we can never take anything for granted, that life can turn on a dime, and we should be aware every second of every day, especially with those closest to us- and that goes double for your children.
3.5 stars