As sophisticated and refined as it is emotionally fervent.
There is no question that grieving is a process that takes time to work through. How that process flows, whether a trickle or a cascade, is a highly personal experience. For Serena, the death of her mother elicits a different reaction than that of her sister or father. Though all experience the loss, Serena is stuck in an endless loop of constant comparisons. How her marriage looks compared to her mom’s. How her parenting choices stack up next to her mom’s. How she balances a demanding career compared to her mom. All of this is piled onto the guilt of having endured a strained relationship with a mother that didn’t seem to care for her for as long as she can remember. Serena is quite comfortable in her misery, regret, and self-disdain, but she can’t let go of the nagging question of why her mother never expressed love toward her. Her sister was loved, but Serena has only cold memories from childhood. A personal mission to figure out their complex relationship yields some astonishing truths about the lengths we go to for those we truly love.
The Things We keep is a vivid drama about dealing with grief, which reads like an impassioned memoir but with a dramatic twist. Many of the characters are at times selfish or unreasonable, and while this could be a turn off for some readers, these unfiltered imperfections fundamentally enhance this story by portraying a family dealing with loss in a very honest way. With a debut novel this well-polished, Julee Balko certainly has a bright future as a novelist and a prime spot on my bookshelf. The author’s writing is succinct, yet thorough, adding appropriate detail, retrospection, and highlights from the past at natural bends in the story. While the novel opens with the heartbreak of losing the family matriarch, the plot gives way to jaw-dropping drama and heartfelt revelations. The Things We Keep is as sophisticated and refined as it is emotionally fervent and fiercely confident.
