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A review by cait808
Shutter by Ramona Emerson
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
my mom picked this as our first family book club read! twas short and sweet and tasty, with a few things that disappointed me.
Rita is a sendup to haggard, perpetually tired girlies everywhere, and her commitment to doing the right thing is admirable. Every time she propitiated the phantoms in a long-suffering tone, I liked our everywoman heroine more, and the descriptions of her actual family and the family she found outside the reservation warmed my heart. I fw the final line of the book v much and it feels like a love letter to both the kind of child Rita was and the woman Rita has become.
I am tepid about the chapter shift between past and present day. Once it was used to great effect—a question coming up in a present chapter was immediately answered by the following past chapter—but otherwise I kind of felt like it was relying on cliffhangers to get me to keep reading.
Also as an aside, I wish I knew more about cameras—each chapter has a subscript of a make/model of a camera of importance to the focal point (hehe) of the chapter. The climactic chapters are simply labelled with an f-stop setting indicating an ever-widening aperture, ending in “wide open.” Neat!
I felt the ending was very rushed. The book needed more chapters to flesh out SEVERAL interesting character skeletons; but unfortunately we are left with:
- Garcia, whois a mustache-twirling villain with barely a motive beyond “greed” and “impatience” driving this maelstrom of events serendipitously happening right as Rita is at her tiredest. (I hate how two of the most plot-impactful moments were just… chance encounters? ie the party, the wake.)
- Armenta, whobarely serves a purpose beyond an exposition dump, when he deserves so much more (his old partner used dirty money to buy a cabin for his wife who has already forgotten who he is, and is living in fear? resignation? of his own death by the hands of the cartel or his partner, who knows which? what a crazy emotional millieu).
- Erma! Would’ve loved moreflashbacks or dream sequences or investigations highlighting Erma’s force of will and relationships to Mathias and her family (cannot forgive that wake scene with Erma seeing her mom and daughter being cut short, acab baby).
- Always need more on Shanice—what did that reunion look like? how have the two found each other again? has Rita come to see Shanice as her own person or is she yet another foil for Gloria? for the mom she never really had?
no notes on Grandma though. now THAT’S what I call a grandma. the idyllic yet grounded description ofa day with grandma picking, drying, and brewing tea? one of my fav chapters fr. 🤌🏼🤌🏼 (just a day after, I watched the MV for the sigur ros song HOPPÍPOLA and had a nice good cry)
Solid book overall, would def read from this author again, especially bc of how she writes both old people and body parts strewn across an Albuquerque highway with such care.
Rita is a sendup to haggard, perpetually tired girlies everywhere, and her commitment to doing the right thing is admirable. Every time she propitiated the phantoms in a long-suffering tone, I liked our everywoman heroine more, and the descriptions of her actual family and the family she found outside the reservation warmed my heart. I fw the final line of the book v much and it feels like a love letter to both the kind of child Rita was and the woman Rita has become.
I am tepid about the chapter shift between past and present day. Once it was used to great effect—a question coming up in a present chapter was immediately answered by the following past chapter—but otherwise I kind of felt like it was relying on cliffhangers to get me to keep reading.
Also as an aside, I wish I knew more about cameras—each chapter has a subscript of a make/model of a camera of importance to the focal point (hehe) of the chapter. The climactic chapters are simply labelled with an f-stop setting indicating an ever-widening aperture, ending in “wide open.” Neat!
I felt the ending was very rushed. The book needed more chapters to flesh out SEVERAL interesting character skeletons; but unfortunately we are left with:
- Garcia, who
- Armenta, who
- Erma! Would’ve loved more
- Always need more on Shanice—
no notes on Grandma though. now THAT’S what I call a grandma. the idyllic yet grounded description of
Solid book overall, would def read from this author again, especially bc of how she writes both old people and body parts strewn across an Albuquerque highway with such care.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gore
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment