A review by jennbairos
In the Context of Love by Linda K. Sienkiewicz
4.0
Stories of women who have suffered sexual abuse have been at the forefront of media recently. How do we empower these women to find strength within darkness? How do we ensure that they are heard? Those are questions that Linda Sienkiewicz has us think about in her debut novel, In the Context of Love.
In the Context of Love tells the story of Angelica. Actually, it's Angelica, many years later, telling her story to the boy she fell in love with in high school. We're not sure until the end if Angelica is actually talking to her boyfriend, or if she's just talking to his memory. This itself makes the book a bit of a page-turner.
Angelica's family is not perfect. It has secrets. Secrets that would destroy a teenage girl who is already trying to figure life out. Angelica learns these deep family secrets, and it changes her. At the same time, the one person to whom she feels connected, her high school boyfriend, suddenly vanishes from her life, leaving her entirely alone.
When I started reading this novel, the writing style hooked me immediately. I love the way that Angelica narrated her story, and as I continued reading the story I realized just how important it was that Angelica narrate this story. That's it's her voice we hear.
The story moves along at a good pace and kept me wondering how the author was going to bring Angelica back from her path of self-distruction, or even if redemption was possible at all. I was not disappointed. Love doesn't always look "perfect" and love sometimes feels absent, but even on the darkest of journeys, we can still find love. And maybe it can save us.
In the Context of Love tells the story of Angelica. Actually, it's Angelica, many years later, telling her story to the boy she fell in love with in high school. We're not sure until the end if Angelica is actually talking to her boyfriend, or if she's just talking to his memory. This itself makes the book a bit of a page-turner.
Angelica's family is not perfect. It has secrets. Secrets that would destroy a teenage girl who is already trying to figure life out. Angelica learns these deep family secrets, and it changes her. At the same time, the one person to whom she feels connected, her high school boyfriend, suddenly vanishes from her life, leaving her entirely alone.
When I started reading this novel, the writing style hooked me immediately. I love the way that Angelica narrated her story, and as I continued reading the story I realized just how important it was that Angelica narrate this story. That's it's her voice we hear.
The story moves along at a good pace and kept me wondering how the author was going to bring Angelica back from her path of self-distruction, or even if redemption was possible at all. I was not disappointed. Love doesn't always look "perfect" and love sometimes feels absent, but even on the darkest of journeys, we can still find love. And maybe it can save us.