I had to really commit to getting started with this book, because I was not drawn into the story immediately and I kept talking myself out of reading it. I’m so glad I stuck with it, though!
This book was great.
Bertha Truitt just shows up in a cemetery at the beginning of the book. She should be frozen in the snow, but she is not. She is just waiting for the next chapter of her life to begin. And so it does.
The character names are mostly unique (Bertha, Leviticus, Jeptha, Minna) and the sentence structure is creative and interesting. Once I got going it was hard to put the book down.
Best quotes from the book:
“She has a serial self. First one person, then another. Boxcar Berthas, one after the other.” (p. 74)
“Not lost but gone before.” (p.107)
“But we know… grief looks like nothing from the outside, it looks like surrender, but in fact it is the most terrible struggle.” (p. 135)
Karen Creamer
