The cruelty she demonstrates in her youth is surprising, yet there’s no evidence of it in the second half of the book. I’m finding it a great challenge to articulate why I love this book so much, but the characterization of Miriam is one of it’s greatest strengths, and the development of her character is what makes this book so memorable. The writing, the sentiment, the circumstances it’s all a beautiful, shining example of how a quiet book can bring readers to their knees just as effortlessly as a twisty thriller or heart-wrenching memoir.
However we quickly learn that she hasn’t lost any of her passion from her youth, and even though far-less dramatic things occur in the second half of the book, a particular point at the end brought me to tears as I read it. Based on the state she was in when we last saw her it’s a great relief to see she’s survived and thrived well into her seventies. We then skip ahead to 2005 on the day of Miriam’s son’s wedding. You can take a guess at how Miriam took this news…hell, you can probably take an even better guess at how I took this news! A minor meltdown ensues (for Miriam, not me) and we leave her at a particularly dramatic point in her life. However, her professor admonishes her for wanting to apply to grad school, claiming she would take up a space more useful to a man as she’s destined to become a housewife anyway.
We first meet Miriam Moscowitz working on her undergrad at at the University of Toronto in 1957 she’s an attentive and passionate student, eager to continue with her English Literature studies.
Inside the cover, the book is described as “a portrait of a life in two snapshots”,which is a vague, but apt description of what you’re going to get. In fact, I found it by accident as I was hunting for a different book on my shelf, instead I unwittingly stumbled upon a novel I feel confidant in recommending to just about anybody. It was a finalist for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award, so it’s not some hidden gem, but maybe because it’s so thin, it got lost in my TBR pile.
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