Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel – 304 pages
ARC from Henry Holt Books and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
At seventy-seven, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas—that would be her three grown children—but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. Her children and grandchildren worry it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more she’s pregnant. Once word gets out, everyone wants a piece of the press and the paparazzi, activists and medical researchers, all descending on Vista View as Pepper tries to determine her next move. Soon Pepper has some hard decisions to make—and some she’s not allowed to make.
My Review: 4.5 stars
Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel was utterly different and completely captivating. I became a superfan of this author after I read her 2017 novel, This Is How It Always Is. I then read most of back stock and never looked back.
I adored all the minor characters that made up Pepper’s group of friends. I enjoyed her relaxation/coping mechanism of washing cars and most of all her relationships with her kids and grandkids. Lola, her granddaughter was incredible and I loved how she texted her grandma with emojis. This book had so much heart and warmth amid what was going on with Pepper and her partner nicknamed Moth.
This story has hints of satire, political leanings for the rights to one’s own body, the medical system at large, grief, loss, parenting your parents, living through a media circus, while also giving them a sense of agency. Through all of it though, there was a perfect amount of humor woven through the storyline. I can’t wait until pub date so I can talk about tell everyone I know to read it!
Quotes I liked:
I am not a snob. I just take books more seriously than other people and am bad at pretending otherwise.”
“But the truth is thunder doesn’t strike anything. It’s loud. It’s scary. But it’s only noise, harmless, a distraction. It’s the lightning you don’t anticipate. It’s the lightning that’ll kill you.”
“Choice and fault are so close together when you’re young. But when you get older- not old, just older- they diverge. How to explain that to a teenager who would obviously live forever.”
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