book review #5 The things we cannot say
-Kelly Rimmer
Happy Valentine’s day! This book was one of the most bitter sweet books I’ve read so far! It takes place in two settings; one being Poland during WWII and the other being 2019 in Florida. As the book goes back and forth from wartime to modern time, it is narrated by 2 protagonists. We are first introduced to Alice, a stay-at-home mom for her highly intelligent daughter Callie and her son Eddie with autism spectrum disorder. Alice devotes all her time to making sure Eddie gets everything he needs while her husband runs off to work, rarely acknowledging the burden he puts onto her. The other narrator is Alina, a 15 year old girl engaged to her childhood love right before the invasion of Poland which affects her life and every one of her loved ones.
On Alice’s side of the story, you get a glimpse of all the hardships of motherhood with the added effort needed to care for Eddie who puts on tantrums when he doesn’t feel secure. Being occupied with Eddie, she loses an eye for Callie, causing an abnormal speed in maturity which reflects the lack of care she receives from her own mother. On top of this, she also juggles caring for her beloved grandmother who is now hospitalized with her speaking abilities long gone. Through a device that Eddie uses to communicate, one day her grandmother takes out a box of ragged items and begs Alice to go to Poland. Without knowing the reason behind this wish, Alice sees how desperate her grandmother is and decides to seek her past.
Alina on the other hand had her life all set to marry Tomasz after he finished college in Warsaw. She lives on her parents’ farmland helping out with the animals every day. She’s sheltered by her parents from the real world but gradually discovers that her everyday life will never be the same anymore. She is forced to live in constant fear, wear dull clothes not to attract unneeded attention, and limit her interactions with her dear friends. With no knowing of whether Tomasz is alive, she longingly waits for his return. Throughout the war, you see her grow while losing just about everything except her pure love for Tomasz until the very end.
While the book tells two separate stories, the storyline starts to slowly merge to where you can connect the dots of each character presented in the book. Frankly, there are many characters on Alina’s side that made it hard to remember who is who for me, but I loved this book immensely :) Although the hardships of Alina are definitely more horrifying and gruesome, Rimmer highlights the hardships of modern times with just as much emphasis which was fresh for me to take in. The transition between the two settings is easy to follow, and there were various moments where Rimmer managed to put a smile on my face with wholesome moments throughout the book. Despite it being melancholic and morbid, I encountered bits on how love can truly beat anything and how mending family relations is possible regardless of how complex and twisted the roots are. This review turned out more to be a synopsis but I highly recommend it! Just click on the image below to order yourself a copy :)
