Unbecoming by Jenny Downham
Internal struggles have no age limit or boundaries.
Unbecoming is a novel about three generations of women:
grandmother, mother, and daughter. The main character, Katie, is a seventeen-year-old
student who is struggling with relationships in her life. Her mother, Caroline,
is going through some struggles of her own when her mother comes back into the
picture. Given their past relationship, Caroline refuses to let Grandma Mary
into her kids’ lives. Slowly but surely, Mary works her way into Katie’s heart.
The two grow closer and closer as Katie helps Mary recall her fading memories.
This book is able to objectively look at each woman and her
flaws but emphasizes that her struggles are valid. We gain an understanding of
characters’ battles like sexual orientation, teen pregnancy, and feelings of
abandonment. Each character has her own set of experiences that has shaped her
into who she is or is in the process of shaping her. A main theme of the book
is the importance of familial relationships. Although they all have complex
relationships with one another like Katie and Mary just being introduced to
each other and hitting it off to their complicated relationships with Caroline
who is too uptight. They each learn to appreciate one another and accept their
shortcomings.
One of the cool things about this book is that it really
does seem like a “normal” family and portrays experiences that people might
actually go through. Of course there are parts that seem more dramatic than a
person’s regular life but the general feel of the novel is realistic. For me,
it started off as a con about the book because it made it less interesting. I
had a hard time getting into the book at the beginning because it felt like
someone was just telling me about stuff that was happening in their lives as
opposed to an interesting story. As I continued reading, that con turned into a
pro because I was able to connect their experiences with those of people I
know. Another pro for me was the various perspectives used to write the book.
We are generally reading from Katie’s perspective but there are sections where
we see the world from Mary’s point of view.
Overall, I’d give the book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was an
average read but provided relatable themes for teens and adults to connect to.
Link on Alzheimer’s to help you understand Mary’s fading
perspective:
Learn more about Katie’s experiences struggling with her
sexual orientation:
This novel seems very interesting in terms of how it explored women. I think I have to take a look on this one since feminism is quite a thing in our generation.
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