Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Reviews
Rating:
3 Stars
In a nutshell:
Valerie goes missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail. The story of her search is told through her eyes, the eyes of the lead searcher Lt Bev, and an older woman Lena, who lives in a nursing home somewhat far away.
Best for:
Folks tired of stories focused on the relationships between fathers and sons and wishing more were about mothers and daughters. Those who enjoy mystery but also nature writing.
Quote that made me think:
“He was, like many people, tyrannized by his changing moods. By an absence of a coherent personality.”
Why I chose it:
My partner gifted it to me for my birthday earlier this year. I read the description but had forgotten until I picked it up this week to read. It seemed appropriate for the season – mystery, set in the forest…
Review:
There is a lot about this book to like. The writing is great. The characters are mostly well-developed. The main characters are all women dealing with their own ideas of strength, solitude, and growth. Love that. The descriptions of the forests are gorgeous, and the discussion of the grief of not knowing, of searching for someone who is missing, is eloquent.
But a critical, interweaving part of the story, is mother daughter relationships, and I just … am not interested. They are all complex and complicated and interesting, but in the end, the author seems to be saying that ‘eh, everyone does the best they can, just love your mom.’ There’s also some mocking of estrangement and cutting ties with neglectful mothers, which feels straight out of Boomer Facebook. I think I’m just not buying that view of the world, or relationships that mothers and daughters have, that everyone’s doing their best and that alone should be sufficient for everyone to just get along fine. And while I get that this is a thread throughout this book, it didn’t need to be. The author could have picked a different through-line, or even a more complex version of this one, and I think it would have worked. I would have enjoyed that book much more than this one. But that’s not the author wanted to write, and the one she did leaves me a little sad for what could have been.
(Also, despite the review at the top of the cover, I wouldn’t call this heart-stopping. I at times forgot there even was a mystery.)
Would I recommend it to its target audience:
If you think all mother-daughter relationships are awesome, then go for it.
