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A review by kkilburn
A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano
5.0
This book is so amazing that I finished it on the last leg of a flight home from my women's martial arts conference - a time when I was physically and mentally exhausted and should have been sleeping. Or, if not sleeping, reading a nice, fluffy romance. But I just couldn't stay away from this masterpiece. Now, I know nothing about Flannery O'Connor (yes, it's shocking, I know), so I can't draw any parallels between Napolitano's work and O'Connor's own. I can only respond to the book as it stands on its own. It stands very well indeed!
For me, the book falls naturally into three sections. In the first, Napolitano introduces us Milledgeville, Georgia, and three women living there: Flannery O'Connor, who has returned to her childhood home after the onset of crippling lupus; Cookie, a young wife stepping into her rightful place among the town's leading women; and Lona, a struggling seamstress married to an ambitious police officer. These women, the ancillary characters, and the town they live in are beautifully realized - complex and real down to their bones, and never descending to caricature.
In the second section, the interactions among the characters results in devastating personal tragedy. That the interactions would result in conflict was obvious as I was reading - that was clear from the natures of the characters and the relationships themselves. But I had no idea how the situation would explode, nor was I in any way prepared for the explosion when it happened. Which is how life works, isn't it? One minute you're living your life, and the next your world has been turned upside down and you're left gasping for breath, trying to figure out where the pieces went. What I'm trying to say is that Napolitano created a perfectly unexpected, perfectly devastating, and perfectly real catastrophe to throw every character into a tailspin. It took my breath away. How each character reacts makes up the rest of this section.
Fortunately, Napolitano doesn't leave us hanging there, but follows each character and s/he hits bottom and begins the long climb back into the light. The journeys aren't necessarily pretty, but they are human. And, ultimately, they are heartbreakingly beautiful.
I am in awe of Napolitano's craftsmanship - of the way she made every character, every setting, and every action in this book so completely real and natural. I love her prose, which is at once poetic and powerful without being contrived. I adore her humor, which is sly and witty without being mean. I can't wait to read her next work!
For me, the book falls naturally into three sections. In the first, Napolitano introduces us Milledgeville, Georgia, and three women living there: Flannery O'Connor, who has returned to her childhood home after the onset of crippling lupus; Cookie, a young wife stepping into her rightful place among the town's leading women; and Lona, a struggling seamstress married to an ambitious police officer. These women, the ancillary characters, and the town they live in are beautifully realized - complex and real down to their bones, and never descending to caricature.
In the second section, the interactions among the characters results in devastating personal tragedy. That the interactions would result in conflict was obvious as I was reading - that was clear from the natures of the characters and the relationships themselves. But I had no idea how the situation would explode, nor was I in any way prepared for the explosion when it happened. Which is how life works, isn't it? One minute you're living your life, and the next your world has been turned upside down and you're left gasping for breath, trying to figure out where the pieces went. What I'm trying to say is that Napolitano created a perfectly unexpected, perfectly devastating, and perfectly real catastrophe to throw every character into a tailspin. It took my breath away. How each character reacts makes up the rest of this section.
Fortunately, Napolitano doesn't leave us hanging there, but follows each character and s/he hits bottom and begins the long climb back into the light. The journeys aren't necessarily pretty, but they are human. And, ultimately, they are heartbreakingly beautiful.
I am in awe of Napolitano's craftsmanship - of the way she made every character, every setting, and every action in this book so completely real and natural. I love her prose, which is at once poetic and powerful without being contrived. I adore her humor, which is sly and witty without being mean. I can't wait to read her next work!