Loving the Dead and Gone by Judith Turner-Yamamoto| ARC Review

"Everywhere I looked I saw people hurting, disappointed, weighed down with longings they couldn’t name.."

Synopsis : 

A freak car crash in 1960s rural North Carolina puts in motion moments of grace that bring redemption to two generations of women and the lives they touch.

For forty years Aurilla Cutter has tended a clutch of secrets that have turned her mean. A fatal accident becomes the catalyst for the release of the passions, needs, and hurts in everyone affected by her hidden past. Darlene, a seventeen-year-old widow, struggles to reconnect with her dead husband while proving herself still alive. Soon loss and death work their magic, drawing Darlene into an unlikely affair that threatens to upend Aurilla’s family, and sets loose Aurilla’s own memories of longing and infidelity.

As Aurilla’s forbidden and heartbreaking story of love, death, and repeated loss alternates with Darlene’s, the divide of generations and time narrows and collapses, building to the unlikely collision of two women’s yearnings, which will free them both from the past. 

Loving the Dead and Gone is a lyrical novel that explores how both grief and love are the ties that bind. 

Review : 

One town. Multiple generations.

Love. Loss. Secrets, that everyone knows.

Set in 1925 and 1963, this beautifully written novel explores loss in a way that is powerful and at times heart-rending. 

I requested this book from the cover alone and I found that the first few chapters piqued my interest and made me keep on reading. The language evoked the place and time within the first couple of sentences, contrasting the slow lazy pace of that hot day in Southern America with the shock factor of a young man's death.

What follows is a sad tale of opportunities lost and wasted lives. Intergenerational trauma leads to miscommunication and secrets. 

The slow and steady rhythm of the narrative made made the entire reading experience feel relaxing, even when events were tragic or shocking. 

I didn't particularly like or side with any of the characters but this felt important as there were no 'good' or 'bad', just real people to whom life was just happening, rather than two dimensional characters acting a part.

I've finished reading this and I'm still trying to recover from the beautiful writing and storytelling. There is such a grief-stricken feeling evoked from reading the book. Not to mention that the cover is so beautiful.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review By : Sabani Das

Audience :

16+

Trigger Warnings :

Car Accident, Abusive Childhood, Infidelity