The Change by Kirsten Miller

 

Do you ever finish a book and wonder what you really thought of it. Like...you just aren't sure? Maybe it's smart and has important things to say or maybe it's really a cynical view of the world and you aren't ready to deal with its realities or maybe it's just fiction and you should be glad you read a story and why does the story always have to mean something or stand for something or maybe you just didn't want to be in the world of that story and want to avoid thinking about it anymore? 

That's sort of how I feel about The Change by Kirsten Miller. 

Three women in their forties discover a body in their town after they were guided there by voices only one of the women can hear. They have to figure out who is murdering young women in their town while also discovering their true power. 

This is a feminist revenge fantasy and I get it, I really do. Some men really suck. But at the risk of being a #notallmen person, not all men (*sigh*) are terrible and good men played a super small role in this book. When I read a book and start defending men, you know it must have really been something.

Okay. Let me try to frame my thoughts in a coherent manner.

Likes:

Strong women

Women learning something about themselves even after age 25

Female empowerment

Realistic serial killer narrative

The subtle magic, particularly the environmental magic

Nuanced older female characters (read: they aren't always likeable)

Dislikes:
Misandry to the extreme

Unrealistic conspiracy narrative

Super long (almost 500 pages, certainly could have been trimmed by at least 20% - I have ideas on how)

Mild stereotyping of wise Black grandma with second sight

I don't know. It's complicated and I don't know what I think. Lots of food for thought here, but I'm not sure the book worked for me on the whole. However, I do think I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time, so that's good, right? I DON'T KNOW.

3/5 stars, but I reserve the right to change my mind.

Lines of note:

“I’ve read the Bible a few times,” Nessa admitted. “I wouldn’t say I’m an expert when it comes to scripture, but as far as I know, Jesus never had a problem with the word fuck.” (location 916)

There was some humor in this book and I did chuckle a few times.

Wisdom and maturity were supposed to go hand in hand. Nessa had turned forty-eight in February, and she still didn’t have a clue. (location 1159)

Oh, boy. I was hoping 48 was the magic year when I would suddenly know how to adult.

Mattauk hid its poor people well. Or maybe, Jo realized to her chagrin, she’d never really bothered to look. (location 2347)

I love this sort of self-discovery.

Everything looked a little too perfect, and Jo found the effect uncanny. (location 3255)

I really hate the suburbs. 

Her left hand clutched a bottle of champagne.

 “Are we celebrating?” Nessa asked. 
“Every day is a celebration,” Harriett responded. (location 3825)

YES!! Wear the special makeup. Use the fancy soap. Drink the champagne. Let's celebrate that it's THURSDAY!!

In all the years that she and Harriett Osborne had been neighbors, the two women had exchanged exactly sixty-two words. (location 5740)

LOLOLOLOL. Imagine counting the words in a conversation. 

Things I noted:

pomegranate aril (location 6342) - I saw pomegranate arils for sale at Costco on Friday and examined them so carefully because I'd never seen the word "aril" before. AND THEN THAT NIGHT I READ IT IN THIS BOOK. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is real.

Hat mentions (why hats?):

When Nessa reached the room, she found a figure standing at the bedside, hat in hand. (location 1125)

A red-faced man in a cowboy hat clapped a hand on Chase’s shoulder. (location 3281)

Really pulled a rabbit out of the hat with that one. (location 3288)

Jo watched with immense satisfaction as he danced around the lawn, waving his cowboy hat frantically in the air as two angry bees flew in circles around his head. (location 3305)

Most of the women were gathered in pools of shade, their hair tucked under dramatic straw hats that made them look like characters in The Great Gatsby and their eyes hidden behind big, dark glasses. (location 3358)

"Each of its flowers will be the size of a party hat, and every part of the plant will be chock full of poison.” (location 4147)

A man sat hunched down in the driver’s seat, watching them, his hat positioned so it cast a shadow on his face. (location 4852)

“Hello, Harriett,” he said, tipping his cowboy hat from a careful distance. (location 6227)

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Have you read this book? If so, please let me know what I should think about it. I'm quite amenable to changing my star score.