A review by lindsayhotrod
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

There’s a lot going on in this book besides an octogenarian walking around NYC one cold NYE. While reading this book, I kept finding myself telling little anecdotes from Lillian’s life to people IRL like “I’m reading this box about this old woman, and get a load of this thing that happens…” I liked this book for a lot of reasons, but what I really loved was the evolving narrative structure that braided the (relative) present with the past in ways that feel familiar at first, but become much more complex and human as we reach the middle periods between the beginning and end of these time periods. What starts as an enjoyable but lighter “independent working gal in the big city!” keeps twisting to crack Lillian and her backstory open a little more, and then a little more, so that by the end, Lillian is somehow both a completely different person than you think she is at the beginning, and yet has been so crisply drawn that it all makes perfect sense. For all the ways it’s clear she is an unusual woman, there is a lot of relatable resonance expressed through often very poignant phrasing. The wordplay and language love throughout delighted the hell out of me, but importantly, moved past a gimmick or being too clever for its own good when balance shifts and the writing takes a turn towards sadness or brilliance, and guts you before you see it coming. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings