amethystt 's review for:

Cold Enough For Snow by Jessica Au

5.0

emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This is such an important book. It expresses so precisely the subtleties of a quiet, unexpressed love and tired anger between an adult daughter and her ageing mother, as they take a trip through Japan. The author gives us a very lived-in view of the daughter's internalised experience of both taking care of her mom's needs and abilities during the trip, her understanding of her family history, but also the multi-layered resignation she goes back and forth to, with regard to her mom's apparent inability or reluctance to understand or engage verbally with emotional complexity, empathy, or vulnerability. A soft and bittersweet book.