Title: Pearl*
Author: Sian Hughes
Rating: 4 stars / 5 stars
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Favorite Quote: “Everyone always wants to know what was making her so unhappy. Why was she so unhappy? They turned the house inside out tracking down her sadness. But they were looking for the wrong thing. In their search for her misery they destroyed the evidence of its opposite. She was happy . . . She lost track of the days and she lost track of her sadness. So when it came back at her, it caught her off-guard. It reared up viciously and tore into her with its accusation: how could you forget me? How dare you be happy? And she was too tired and too unguarded and joyful to have any defense against it. It tore her from her happiness and sent her to the river and held her face under the water.” Hughes, Sian. Pearl. The Indigo Press, 2023, 216 - 217.
Review: So, as has been true of my Booker Prize journey so far, Pearl has been another wonderful book to move from my TBR to my “read” shelf. Following, in fragmented pieces, the protagonist as she navigates life after the disappearance of her mother, Pearl is a study in adolescence, grief, adulthood, and loss. But despite the heavy topics it explores, there are still moments of hope and of levity.
One of the most fascinating parts of this book are the different ways in which the family copes with the loss of the mother, not just in the immediate moments following her disappearance, but later in life as well. As the novel nears its end, [SPOILER ALERT] Marianne returns to her childhood home and meets the family now inhabiting it. There, she discovers that her brother has visited often enough to build a friendship of sorts with the new residents. This contrasts greatly with her own awkward encounter with them, and even more so from the first time she returned in her teen years, terrifying the “friend” who trailed after her.
The structure of the novel is also quite notable. Each chapter begins with a poem or children’s rhyme, that though, on the surface, seem cheerful and light, the words are often much more insidious than the rhymes suggest. This seems to speak the novel as a whole - something bubbling just underneath the surface.
Finally, the novel’s exploration of memory - its importance, its limitations, and the role it plays in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves - is central to the novel’s plot and its characters, and is wound expertly through the rest of the narrative.
So what’s not working? This is truly a good book. At times, however, despite it being relatively short, there were moments that seemed to drag on, or at times repeat in places where repetition seemed unnecessary. Overall, though, it was a strong addition to the Booker longlist.
About that Quote: Though nearing the end of the book, this quote seems to give insight to the narrative as a whole. This book is about conflict - conflicting emotions, conflicting memories, conflicting wants and desires. And here, in this quote, is, perhaps, the origin of that conflict. Marianne’s mother - too happy to combat the sad. Hughes captures, in this moment, what the entire narrative is centered around - conflict that is never quite resolved.
(Incomplete) TW list for Pearl: Self-harm, S*icide, ED, child abandonment
Have you read Pearl? Share your thoughts below!
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