Available on Amazon
You're already aware of how much I like Kelly Oxford. And her new book is equally as good as her last one. If anything, it's a little more intimate than her first one in a way that I didn't expect. Here are my favourite parts:
The part about how she's a teenager going through depression and compares her mother at home with her to the movie Misery made me laugh so much, maybe also because it reminds me so much of that great Who's The Boss episode, too.
The chapter about how she takes Bea out of Montessori school because the teacher is a bitch is so funny and great - partially because of my own, personal hatred of daycare institutions and partially because it's so relatable to hear about. I wish there were more chapters on Bea in general.
Hahahah, the line, "Did she just say I have NO CLASS WITH NO DOODLE?" in response to an internet troll.
This exchange with her adolescent son:
Wait, he was calling a girl?
"Henry, are you into girls already?"
He smiles, "All day and all night, son!"
The entire chapter about her family friend John passing away was too much to handle in one sitting. It took me a few tries to get through it, not because reading about people handling death is so hard, but moreso because her description of this man and her relationship to him in her youth is so descriptive and empathetic. It's beautifully written and my favourite part of it was the final paragraph, "Bea runs over to me and holds my hand. I look down at the table set up at the entrance of the hall. On it rests John's hat, his Royal Order of the Horn leather necklace, and the condolences book. I touch the feather on the hat, then the necklace. Bea does the same. Then I look over at the condolences book and I read, "I remember first meeting John in the 1960s; he came through the door at Dyke's cabin and said, 'Hi, I'm John, the good guy.'" And I cry a flood of tears."
This 1000% relatable paragraph:
"I've always felt like rape is the invisible vampire that I had to run from, if vampires were real and everywhere, all the time. Because I've never been raped, I've always waited for it, wondering where and when. Dark parking lots, elevators, bathrooms, hotel rooms, my front yard, my bed. I feel it could happen. Anytime. All the time. I'm ready to fight, but I'm almost forty. I'm fucking tired, you guys."
The absolute best way she could have ended the book:
"I don't know when this will all stop. Or when women will truly be equals. Sometimes I feel so alone, and other times I open my mouth or reach out and find that everyone is feeling the same way that I'm feeling. And what the world is sharing is maybe the thing that helps us see that the world isn't really against us after all. Maybe."
It was a really great book, you should check it out.
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