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A review by super_squirrel
The Confession by Jessie Burton
2.0
I just wasn't sure who I was supposed to root for. All the main characters do awful things to each other and there is almost an idea that an element of forgiveness is just a given.
It is a feminist novel about women so the male characters are not particularly fleshed out and are generally used to represent being held back, not understanding, or an inability to communicate which didn't bother me too much except in the case of Rose's Father.Rose is the result of an affair which comes about on her Father's side due to a breakdown in his marriage after a miscarriage. He is the one who raises Rose after her Mother (who in hindsight is obviously suffering from post natal depression) leaves. His whole arc seems to stem from lacking in the ability to understand and support the women in his life but he steps up and raises his daughter on his own. He is potrayed as a large part of the cause of his daughter's inabilty to understand herself as he hasn't told her the story of her Mother. However, he is weirdly such a small part of the story that it kind of makes sense why he doesn't tell her. The main question is where she is and why she left and it turns out he doesn't really have a full answer for either. He is given credit for raising her well but almost usurped in his daughter's affections by her absent Mother's former lover by the end and he is expected to accept that she is not as bad as he thinks despite learning she is the trigger for Elise leaving without a trace and never returning, and also is potrayed as massivley emotionally abusive. The Father's part in the story is still negative but no more so than the women who don't seem to have to answer for it in the same way.
It does highlight the messiness of relationships well and embodies the idea that there is a lot of the female experience hidden from the world, especially where there is struggle or discord. The language is very pretty too if a little over the top in places.
As a bit of a personal grumble I don't quite understand why a lot of feminist literature has to just concentrate and include all the negatives of being a woman. This books includes infidelity, physical and emotional abuse, miscarriage, abortion, post natal depression, marginalisation, painful periods just to name a few and doesn't seek to offer any positive balance. I understand the idea is to highlight injustice but I can't help but feel it is a little reductive of female experience to see it only through a negative lens. I often think there would be a much greater impact if those issues were given their own spotlights within the more general and even positive parts of female existence rather than thrown all together into one story. It is the juxtaposition against an opposite which provides the highlight and if everything is just miserable it just all gets a bit lost.
It is a feminist novel about women so the male characters are not particularly fleshed out and are generally used to represent being held back, not understanding, or an inability to communicate which didn't bother me too much except in the case of Rose's Father.
It does highlight the messiness of relationships well and embodies the idea that there is a lot of the female experience hidden from the world, especially where there is struggle or discord. The language is very pretty too if a little over the top in places.
As a bit of a personal grumble I don't quite understand why a lot of feminist literature has to just concentrate and include all the negatives of being a woman. This books includes infidelity, physical and emotional abuse, miscarriage, abortion, post natal depression, marginalisation, painful periods just to name a few and doesn't seek to offer any positive balance. I understand the idea is to highlight injustice but I can't help but feel it is a little reductive of female experience to see it only through a negative lens. I often think there would be a much greater impact if those issues were given their own spotlights within the more general and even positive parts of female existence rather than thrown all together into one story. It is the juxtaposition against an opposite which provides the highlight and if everything is just miserable it just all gets a bit lost.