maggiestraveledbookshelf 's review for:

The Names by Florence Knapp

5.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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✨ Review ✨ 

📖 The Names

✍🏻 Florence Knapp

☑️ Literary Fiction 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚—𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜—𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙤𝙣. 𝙏𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨, “𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚… 𝙄 𝙙𝙤. 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙙𝙤. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚.”

A brilliant, unique story! 

Overview:

•Three Alternate Timelines

•Character Study

•Impact of Choices

•Multiple POVs

Big TW - Domestic Violence

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀: 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗻, 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗿. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀, 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆.

I’ve never read a book like this one, and I am blown away that it’s a debut novel! 

You could honestly stop reading this review right now and just add it to your list because I recommend it to everyone who’s thought about life’s infinite possibilities. 

Let me start by saying this: A few years ago, I volunteered at a safe home shelter for abused women, and it was a crash test in the ugly underbelly of society. So trust me when I say this is the most raw and realistic depiction of domestic abuse that I’ve ever read. 

Cora’s piece-of-shit husband utilizes almost every behavior in the Power and Control Wheel: emotional abuse, isolation, economic abuse, intimidation, and so on. The specific tactics were absolutely heartbreaking and horrifying, including a few scenes that made me pause to breathe. 

With that said, the whole concept of three parallel timelines was so intriguing to me when I heard about this book, but I wasn’t confident it would be executed well. 

I’m so impressed. WOW, these characters felt incredibly real. 

Cora’s son - Bear and Julian and Gordon - had drastically different life trajectories, but the core of his spirit felt to same. This was such an interesting character study into nature vs nurture. No part of the story was predictable, but it remained realistic and thought-provoking and empathetic. 

A pleasant surprise was how Knapp depicted the ripple effect of domestic abuse through each family member and the people connected to them. The reverberations impact was significant and enraging. 

“…𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧’𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨. 𝙄𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚, 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩—𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧. 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙.”

I normally include many more quotes in my reviews, but I needed to leave them out in order to preserve the magic of discovering these characters.

Overall I highly recommend this book!! Please just be aware of the heavy nature and trigger warnings. 

✨ Read via Libby + Physical Book ✨ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse