Take a photo of a barcode or cover
melreadsmaybe 's review for:
Tess of the Road
by Rachel Hartman
This one took me a while to finish, in part because I was in the midst of a difficult graduate class, but also because of the weight this story contained. There is fantasy in this story, but it is incidental to what is really happening. Tess is a woman like none I have ever seen before in fiction; her trials, her struggles, her perception of self has a depth that I rarely see explored in female characters. It feels strange to praise the fact that a character is allowed to despise herself, but the way that Hartman explores Tess and her faults was absolutely breathtaking. Tess is given the space and time to explore her heart and mind, something that is typically reserved for male characters. There are parts of the journey that dragged a bit while reading, but this may have also been because I kept having to take breaks while reading. I highly recommend this book.