Review: The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Book: The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: A

For: Fun!

Thanks to Serena, I got this one for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and bumped it to the top of the TBR, even though it did still have to wait after a couple of other "have to reads." Anyway, once I was finally able to start it, it was a fast, quick and fun read. I totally enjoyed this story and got all wrapped up in the craziness surrounding this character.

The story is about a woman nicknamed Towner who gets word that her aunt, who she lived with a bit of her time growing up, has disappeared, so she comes home to see what's going on. We are to understand at the beginning that something has happened in her past that made her a little crazy. She had to move away from her hometown Salem, and she's had therapy, she's on medication.... stuff like that. So when she comes home, she begins to remember things. There are several flashbacks to when she was growing up, memories of her twin sister, memories of the mean uncle, memories of her mom.

Anyway, I don't want to say too much or give anything away, but it seems she is getting all this stuff figured out, but things still aren't what they seem. In fact, it has one of those... "wait, what?" kind twists and I loved it! You know, when you have to read the paragraph over and over to make sure you're really reading what you think you're reading!

Great stuff. Lots of pondering moments about who are we really, and what's really the meaning of our relationships. Oh, and I loved all the historical Salem references... witches, Nathanial Hawthorne, etc.

What other people had to say, all of whom can explain this book much better than I can:

She Is Too Fond of Books

CaribousMom

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time

Book-a-rama

Booking Mama

The Sleepy Reader