July 25, 2019
Life and
Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins
Emma
London has made a good life for herself and her daughter Riley, living in a
Chicago suburb, when she gets a telephone call from her cold but fabulously wealthy grandmother. Genevieve has just
learned that she is dying of brain cancer, and she wants Emma and Riley to come
and stay with her in Connecticut for the summer. The problem is that Emma hasn’t heard from
Genevieve in almost 17 years, since she kicked Emma out when she found out she
was pregnant.
Most of
Emma’s childhood memories are of Genevieve's negative criticisms of her: she didn’t care about her appearance, she
didn’t stand up for herself, she squandered her opportunities, she was never
good enough overall. With plenty of
misgivings, Emma decides that she and Riley both need a change. She decides to return to Connecticut
to find out why Genevieve has reached out to her.
This is
a warm, fuzzy, feel-good read, with a number of strong women characters. The story is told from the perspective of
several different characters. My only
issue is that things work out a little too neatly and predictably. There are a few characters who are dead
at the beginning of the novel, and they are all practically canonized in the course
of the novel, with nary a bad memory about any of them (it’s hard to compete with the dead – living people are
complicated and messy). But readers who
enjoy women’s fiction or are looking for a great vacation read, as well as fans
of Higgins, will fall right into this story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in return for a review.
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