#7
Title: The Things We Cannot Say
Author: Kelly Rimmer
First published: 2019
Pages: 408
MY RATING: 7/10
I’d been wanting to read a wartime romance for a while and this book was perfect. at first I was hating because the writing wasn’t as elevated as it could’ve been in some parts, weak imagery and characterisation and whatnot, but it grew on me and didn’t seem so bad the more I read. I loved that the build up towards the past and present reconciling was deliberate and when the dots connected at the end it was really profoundly tragic
long story short, it’s about a Polish woman (Alice) in present day America who’s having troubles with a loving but unhappy marriage, and her ninety something year old grandmother who is on her deathbed and unable to communicate verbally but desperate to send someone to Poland immediately to find answers and closure about the boy she loved but was separated from due to Nazi occupation in ~1940, who promised he would follow her but never did. also closure about what happened to her family back home after she fled the war, as she established a life in America without ever having spoken about her complicated past pretty much until she was about to die. Alice takes on the task of visiting her grandmother’s hometown in Poland for answers
it’s a very sad truth that comes to light, and adding to the depth of it all is how Alice rediscovers herself in her quest to learn about her grandmother’s life and her own family roots, and her marriage takes a turn for the better, it was wholesome
only thing that really resonated with me though was the grandmother’s (Alina’s) and her fiance’s (Tomasz) life together in Poland and the way their relationship endured and deepened through and despite their circumstances
Happy to be reading a little again now that I’m on break
it’s sad bc even in the act she knew it was messed up but continued bc that’s how deeply her love runs for him. plus without him she has no one else, family (absent or passed) or friends (most went on to live “normal” lives).
loved it tho
the story was rlly immersive and the world-building was just 10/10 such skilled inclusion and omission of detail, some dots connected at the very end and that was so cool too like Boo Radley for instance, he was an obscure shut-in who nobody saw and the children had a funny fixation on him the whole time and yeah he made his first and last appearance at the very end in a very unexpected and powerful way that made it all make sense + made for a very sentimental closing scene for the book. Lee was a lawyer apparently which makes sm sense because she nailed Atticus’ character like the chapters on Robinson’s trial were incredibly informed I picked up on a ton of law lingo and concepts, it made the emotional gravity of that scene so much more vivid, she also did an amazing job showcasing Atticus’ complexities through the narration of Scout, it made Atticus seem like both a main and background character at the same time which is rlly skilful the way Lee pulled that off perfectly. overall just an incredible story of a society deeply rooted in racism and class stratification, and how the integrity and conscience of one father and lawyer got the moral cogs turning in peoples minds even though racism ultimately won
nonchalant king with a face card fs and he has morals principles and is a single dad doing his best … so I understand LMAO
