By Amy Meyerson
This book is a family drama that has some great literary references. A woman, Miranda Brooks, is sent on a scavenger hunt by her recently deceased, long estranged Uncle Billy. There is a dash of mystery, a bookstore, and a smoldering, Heathcliff-like ogre guarding it.
I enjoyed the exploration of relationships within a family, including those who become so close to us they are included in our family without an actual blood relation. Do we ever mature enough to know our family as separate, feeling, thinking entities outside of their relationship to us? Can we ever understand the humans our parents were before we existed?
There is an ongoing theme warning us of the perils of judging a book by its cover. Also featured are some of the myriad ways humans cope with grief. Multiple times during the story I disliked Miranda, her self-centered nature and her naivete, but I believe that was intentional on the author’s part.
I felt a connection with this book because I also lived in Los Angeles for many years, specifically around the area this takes place. My memories enjoyed being put through their paces, taking the same roads and mentally trying to steer the characters onto different routes – yes, that’s really a thing everyone in Southern California does. Additionally, the focus of the plight of the neighborhood book store versus big, bad Amazon is real, and I encourage more of us to go to an actual store to indulge our literary appetites.
Soundtrack
California Dreamin by The Mamas and the Papas
LA Song by Beth Hart
Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin
Pros & Cons & Potential Spoilers
Pros
- The literary scavenger hunt that you can figure out along with Miranda
- The bookstore setting and the history behind it, the loveable cast of characters who belong to the bookstore
- Good dissection of family dynamics, power, and comfort levels
Cons
- Miranda’s male relationships are very predictable
- The book didn’t particularly move me or swallow my attention whole – just an average story