Canadian Book Challenge 5; 2nds Challenge
I thought The Girls by Lori Lansens was good, but I just adored this book. Mary Gooch is a character whose struggle to find herself I won't soon forget.
Mary Gooch is morbidly obese, and on the eve of her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, her husband disappears. Life is hard for Mary, and physically she is struggling to just get around. Her husband Gooch has been her life and his disappearance sets her world upside-down. As she searches for him, she ends up finding herself. It sounds trite, but the writing was so good, and Mary's reaching out to people, letting others help her and learning that she has value in her own right was very satisfying. The Wife's Tale is set in the same small Ontario town as The Girls. The girls, conjoined twins Ruby and Rose Darlen are mentioned in this book as well. I believe Lansens' other book, Rush Home Road is also set in the same town.
In some ways the ending wasn't enough; I wanted more! But Lansens told all she needed to and Mary's life, while not tied up neatly at the end, was really more of a beginning. I would love to have read the same book from Jimmy Gooch's perspective as well. He was a character that I really liked (even though he disappeared from Mary's life) and would have liked to have learned even more about him.
also reviewed: leeswammes;
