The Book That Matters Most

June 6, 2016
Hood’s (The Obituary Writer) latest novel is a moving, intricate story about loss, healing, and the value of critical thinking. A year after being left by her husband, Ava is still reeling from the grief of separation, which brought back the pain of losing her sister and mother early in life. In order to branch out and meet new people, Ava joins a book club where each member must choose a book that matters most to them for the group to discuss. Although the new activity keeps her engaged, Ava, who lives in Providence, R.I., still feels alone, with her son abroad in Africa and her daughter studying in Florence. What Ava doesn’t know is that her daughter has recently quit school and is now living in Paris under increasingly dangerous circumstances. Ava doesn’t immediately enjoy the book group (she watches a movie adaptation instead of reading the first book), but bit by bit, book by book, she rediscovers her love of reading, makes new friends, and begins to heal. As the narrative focus moves among different characters and back and forth in time, suspense builds about what happened to Ava’s mother and sister and what might happen to her daughter. Meanwhile, the book club allows Ava to examine her grief and slowly learn how to move forward. This is a gripping, multifaceted novel about recovering from different kinds of loss and the healing that comes from a powerful story.

The book club's December meeting is spent with each member naming the book that has mattered most in her life for the purpose of everyone reading and discussing it the next year. Sadly, the idea of this book is more interesting than its execution, and Nina Alvamar's narration doesn't improve the story. The plot moves between Ava and her daughter, Maggie, with a third character showing up about halfway through. The other characters are clich�d, and the story itself seems manipulative and unrealistic. Alvamar's narration doesn't match the ages of the characters. Ava is old enough to have children out of college, yet her sentences end with upspeak. Furthermore, her delivery has no nuances, and her pacing and tone become monotonous. N.E.M. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine