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A review by hopeykat
Hieroglyphics by Jill McCorkle
3.0
HIEROGLYPHICS by Jill McCorkle is a beautiful examination of how one’s past can affect their present through showing the deep connection that exists between two families.
Told through four perspectives, Hieroglyphics looks into the lives of Lil, an aging woman desperately trying to cling onto the memories that remain by reading the diary entries that detail her life; her husband Frank, a retired professor haunted by his past and finds himself fixated on visiting his childhood home; Shelley, a single mother struggling to keep her job and who just moved into Frank’s old house where she takes care of her son Harvey; who suffers from cleft lip and a troubled mind filled with visions of ghosts and mass murderers.
HIEROGLYPHICS follows these characters as their lives are laid out and interwoven through their experiences with loss and tragedy, revealing how family and memory constantly shape one another and reminds us that we’re all trying to make sense of our own lives.
An emotionally charged story that tugs on the heart, McCorkle uses poignant prose and vivid descriptions to prove herself as a profound author who has written a truly mature work that speaks on the difficulties of those who struggle with the scars of their past.
“Don’t we all harbor the hope, the wish, that something magnificent will happen? Don’t we all marvel at how easily we can get lost within a work of art?” –Jill McCorkle
Told through four perspectives, Hieroglyphics looks into the lives of Lil, an aging woman desperately trying to cling onto the memories that remain by reading the diary entries that detail her life; her husband Frank, a retired professor haunted by his past and finds himself fixated on visiting his childhood home; Shelley, a single mother struggling to keep her job and who just moved into Frank’s old house where she takes care of her son Harvey; who suffers from cleft lip and a troubled mind filled with visions of ghosts and mass murderers.
HIEROGLYPHICS follows these characters as their lives are laid out and interwoven through their experiences with loss and tragedy, revealing how family and memory constantly shape one another and reminds us that we’re all trying to make sense of our own lives.
An emotionally charged story that tugs on the heart, McCorkle uses poignant prose and vivid descriptions to prove herself as a profound author who has written a truly mature work that speaks on the difficulties of those who struggle with the scars of their past.
“Don’t we all harbor the hope, the wish, that something magnificent will happen? Don’t we all marvel at how easily we can get lost within a work of art?” –Jill McCorkle