Claire AndradeFor the month of February I picked to read The Flood Girls by Richard Fifield. Get it here.
This novel takes place in small town Montana in 1991. It centers around the main character Rachel Flood, a woman in her late 20’s, who returns to her hometown, after becoming sober, to try and make amends with all the people she did wrong during her teenage years- including her mother whom she betrayed. The book’s chapters take turns telling the story from the point of view of Rachel, her mother Laverna and Rachel’s new neighbor whom she befriends, a 12 year-old boy named Jake who doesn’t really fit in with anyone in this small town. The book also focuses a lot on “The Flood Girls”, Laverna’s not very skilled softball team.
In all honesty, it took me a long time into the book before I really liked any character in this story. Some of these people are pretty awful and pretty angry and I just couldn’t relate. As the story goes on, and you learn more about the characters, they become more likable. That is until the ending, where the author takes away all the happiness and optimism you had built up through the book and leaves you devastated. I finished reading this book yesterday and I am still upset about how it ended. I will leave it at that but expect to have your heart broken (because I did not, I thought it would be a light hearted book through the end).
So should you read this book? I say yes. Especially if you are a mother or a daughter. This book made me laugh and made me cry and the characters are nothing if not entertaining. This book does have some happy parts and gives lessons in acceptance, forgiveness and the importance of coming together. You may hate me at then end but this book still made me happy overall.
My only other critique is that, while I loved the stories this author told, sometimes I felt like there were too many stories to keep track of and there wasn’t time to dive into much detail in all of them and I feel that I have some unanswered questions. I hope that there will be more Flood Girls novels to answer my questions. If you read this book – you should try to read it in a shorter amount of time, I started it at the beginning of the month and then didn’t touch it again until the end of the month to finish most of it and I don’t recommend that with this book because I forgot some things that happened. I just really want someone else I know to read this book just so I have someone to talk to about it!
What other books should I add to my list to read? Let me know in the comments!
Also, some BIG NEWS:
This will be the last post on this site, catchingupwithclaireelizabeth.wordpress.com because I am in the process of creating a new site with a shorter name and new design!! Starting this Wednesday March 1st, this site will no longer be available and my new site will be up. All of my content will be transferred over and I will continue writing the same content as I have been, it will just be on a new and improved site. Can’t wait to reveal it to all of you. Be sure to follow me on social media for when I reveal the new site name and URL so you don’t miss out on any posts!