If you like the idea of books as windows to other people’s minds, hearts and souls and all that – this is the book for you.
It isn’t an easy or easily likable read, but it isn’t meant to be. It certainly doesn’t have an easy or an easily likable protagonist. Oh no, Frances is a garbage fire of a person. And her life is garbage fire. Abandoned by her mother in childhood, Frances has never gotten past it as an adult. She tries to find substitutes for that sort of love in her relationships, which never work out. For various reasons. Because she wants too much. Because she doesn’t give enough. Because she has a crap taste in people. Because she’s a drunk and a junkie and has no aims, goals, etc. Frances has been emotionally devastated by a hurricane of a relationship with someone she was madly in love with and now she is rebounding. All over the place. While addling her mind with chemicals. The former gets her involved with an exuberant, exuberantly loving, chatty, needy, insatiable Elaine. The latter, her habit, gets her on the hook to a local dealer for two grand. Not too much but way more than she has. So her grand plan is to have Elaine (who comes from money and has some) move in with her and give her the two grand as rent. Elaine is thrilled and does so immediately and suddenly Frances finds her tiny place and her organized life invaded and upended in the most intolerable ways. Her next grand plan is to…you guess it…sedate Elaine. Just to get a few days of peace and quiet until the money comes through. To no one surprise but Frances’ her plans go awry and soon she finds herself in more of a mess than ever. Perhaps it’s time to sort out her sh*t once and for all, take out the garbage, put out the fires and try to live a real life? Perhaps. You’ll just have to read and find out. So yeah, a messy protagonist, a messy life, but the narrative is great, completely immersive, hypnotic almost. Outside of the overdone mommy issues, it works really well on every level due to the strikingly strong character writing. You don’t have to like Frances, but you will follow her story along. It’s like that. And it’s good. I really enjoyed reading this. Recommended.
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