“But this time when I pull away from him, it is agonizing. Not found, but lost. I pause, stand on the precipice of memory, wanting so desperately to fall into it, knowing I can’t. Jonas is animal, Peter is mineral. And I need a rock.”
-Miranda C. Heller, The Paper Palace
The Paper Palace is Miranda Cowley Heller’s first novel, although she worked for HBO developing many series such as The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. The Paper Palace is the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick for the month of July.
The Paper Palace is set on Cape Cod and as a reader you will soon learn the significance of the title. It covers six days in the life of Elle Bishop. She is at a crossroads in life that concerns her oldest childhood friend, Jonas and her loving and devoted husband, Peter. The writing in this novel is superb, especially the Cape Cod summers Elle spent with Jonas as a child. This intergenerational story draws you in as a reader with all of its family secrets over the past 50 years. The author knows how to wrap the reader up into the story so much so that the novel is hard to put down. I actually listened to the audiobook, and it was phenomenal. The ending, well, that ending. It is actually causing some debate, but suffice to say, if you read the ending carefully, it is all right there.
Note: There are trigger warnings for this book that include sexual abuse/rape that are mentioned throughout the story, so keep that in mind if you choose to read this novel.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Comments
Post a Comment