abbie_ 's review for:

Farewell, Ghosts by Nadia Terranova

3.5

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Thank you @7storiespress for gifting me an early copy of Farewell, Ghosts by Nadia Terranova to review! Terranova is an Italian author and this is the first book of hers to be translated into English - by none other than translation superstar Ann Goldstein! It follows Ida, a 30-something who heads back to her mother's home in Sicily to help her renovate the apartment, sort through her childhood things and put it up for sale. While there, Ida is thrown back into the past and forced to deal with the trauma surrounding her father's disappearance which she never really processed.

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I liked this book a lot. It has a lot of the themes I enjoy: an exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, a lot of introspection and reminiscing on the past. Terranova questions the way we remember things and how we make memories - how much of it is actually what happened and how much do we edit to remember things in a more palatable or enjoyable light? There was one moment that stood out to me particularly. Ida meets up with a friend from her childhood, and a memory that Ida has of their friendship, which has always remained vivid to her, isn't shared by her friend at all. Does this mean it didn't happen? Or just that the two girls placed importance on different things?

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As she sorts through her things, she's assaulted by a barrage of past memories, inescapable in this house of her childhood. Ida's father disappeared when she was 13, and growing up, every little thing became imbued in meaning, reminding her of her father's absence. Being back in the home now, she realises nothing has faded, it's almost like she's been transported directly into the past. Terranova evokes these feelings of loss and lack of closure around a parent's absence vividly.

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It didn't always hold my attention fully, but that may have been my own fault as I read it when I was feeling kind of slumpy. But it always managed to hook me back in whenever I found my attention waning.

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If you're not a fan of books with little plot and a lot of 'navel gazing' then I wouldn't recommend this one to you. But if you do, then keep your eye out for Farewell, Ghosts!