Author: Sheena Kamal
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Bruised by Tanya Boteju
Home Home by Lisa Allen-Agostini
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): Love and violence. In some families they're bound up together, dysfunctional and poisonous, passed from generation to generation like eye color or a quirk of smile. Trisha's trying to break the chain, channeling her violent impulses into Muay Thai kickboxing, an unlikely sport for a slightly built girl of Trinidadian descent. Her father comes and goes as he pleases, his presence adding a layer of tension to the Toronto east-end townhouse that Trisha and her mom call home, every punch he lands on her mother carving itself indelibly into Trisha's mind. Until the night he wanders out drunk in front of the car Trisha is driving, practicing on her learner's permit, her mother in the passenger seat. Her father is killed, and her mother seems strangely at peace. Lighter, somehow. Trisha doesn't know exactly what happened that night, but she's afraid it's going to happen again. Her mom has a new man in her life and the patterns, they are repeating.
My opinion: I certainly can approve of what Kamal is examining here. Trisha has a complex relationship with violence. She's grown up with random violence with a the random appearance of her father in her life, abusing her mother. There's also the use of mild violence in her culture, slaps and smacks that are considered affection as much as they are correction. And then there's her practice of Muay Thai, finding her fulfillment in intentional violence. This occupies the bulk of the bulk of the book and most of our attention. Its those remaining sections that give me pause. Because outside of violence we get hints of something supernatural going on. The final reveals and ultimate resolution are chaotic at best and were somewhat difficult to parse out.
Advanced reader Copy provided by NetGalley
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