So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman
My rating: 4/5 cats
maggie-approved!
thank goodness for paul tremblay.
i went to a reading last week to celebrate his wonderful A Head Full of Ghosts and to bask in the glory of hearing him read aloud as the “me-character.” also on the bill was cara hoffman, who read a bit from Be Safe I Love You and then had a little onstage conversation with paul about books and process and all that good stuff. and while i own both of her novels, i’d never read her. the stories had both intrigued me, so i grabbed them when they crossed my desk, but there was something about the covers that made me a little hesitant. i wasn’t sure if they would be meaty psych suspense or fall into that jodi picoult category where contemporary issues are watered down for book club fodder.
but hearing her speak made me much more confident that i would like her books, especially when she dropped the fact that she got criticism for this book being “too angry.”
SOLD!
and yes, it is an angry, angry book. but it is gloriously, righteously angry.
it is the story of the murder of a woman in a small town in upstate new york. it’s the story of the woman who exposes the horrors and hypocrisies underlying this single crime by writing about the broader implications of violent crimes against women. it’s the story of a brilliant young girl whose idealistic parents have nurtured her talents and encouraged her to think for herself, to be self-sufficient, and who never shield her from the evils of the world.
the place where these stories intersect is nothing short of explosive.
in its broad scope, it is a story about violence and women, but it also includes themes of civic and corporate responsibility, the dangers of idealism, the slight space where well-intentioned hippies can cross over into paranoid preppers, the dying of a small town, and the insidiousness of the silent, complicit misogyny permeating our culture.
it’s a dark story, with uncomfortable imagery and a very knotty moral weave.
and there ain’t nothing watered-down about it; it’s all blistering howl.
so i’m very glad i finally picked it up, and i will definitely be reading Be Safe I Love You as well.
thank goodness for paul tremblay.
thank goodness for cara hoffman.
