jhaeger's review
There was a point when I was afraid Scott had painted herself into a corner. By the middle of the book I thought the expectations had been set too high. So when the scene where her mom offered to answer any and all questions came up again, I was ready not only for the answers, but also for what Scott was going to ask. The second time her mom’s dying offer comes up, just like the first, she pivots to something else. In a way, she embodies what her own mom did to her growing up. We—as the readers—have questions and we want some goddamn answers. But then Scott does something very sneaky. She shifts the driving force of the book from the what to the why. It's not about what her family's past holds. It's not what her mom withheld from her. The book suddenly becomes why Scott needs these answers so badly. It's not as if unlocking the answers is going to change the course of Liz Scott’s life. She turns the dissection inward and starts searching for her own desires about why this whole ordeal has brought such stress to her own life. And I mean, I think we all get it. Even as a reader I wanted to know what her mom was hiding, but within this perspective shift Scott elevates this book past a normal procedural or memoir. She's giving us something to take with us and ponder. And it works. It works really fucking well and I’m mad that I don’t even care about all the secrets anymore. I don’t need the answers because she doesn’t, and I can find satisfaction in that.
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