Five Tuesdays In Winter by Lily King

Hello, Friends! I struggle with writing reviews and often try new ways to motivate myself. So this review, I am trying something new, and I am posting in the form of Q &A with myself.

What were some of the theme’s explored in the stories?

King writes about ordinary people with messy lives as she explores loss, grief, heartache, and self-discovery with vulnerable characters longing for love, acceptance, and struggling with change.

Are the characters likeable, or unlikeable and easy to connect and relate to? Do they change and grow with the conflicts they experience?

Lily King creates an array of uniquely endearing, likable characters of all ages, but the complicated relationships are at the heart of the stories. The stories centered around parents and adolescents were the ones I related most too. She writes about parents trying to understand and connect to their bright, vulnerable, self-conscious children who have “become a creature they couldn’t understand.” Often stories explore bad parenting, but here, we see a raw, honest look at the messiness of raising one of those creatures who think their parents are creatures they don’t understand and relate to.

“Adults hid their pain, their fears, their failure, but adolescents hid their happiness, as if to reveal it would risk its loss.”

Yes, in only a few pages we see the characters change and grown through their experiences. We see them discover something about life, themselves, and each other..

What were some of the conflicts the characters experienced?

We have characters who are left vulnerable by spouses who have left them or have experienced a loss, mental health crisis, alcoholism, or crudity.

Would I recommend the stories?

Yes!!

Did the book inspire me to read more from the author?

Yes, I have Writers & Lovers on my shelf of unread books and have moved it to the top of my list to read.

I received a copy from the publisher and borrowed the book from the library

What the book is about

Told in the intimate voices of unique and endearing characters of all ages, these tales explore desire and heartache, loss and discovery, moments of jolting violence and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. A bookseller’s unspoken love for his employee rises to the surface, a neglected teenage boy finds much-needed nurturing from an unlikely pair of college students hired to housesit, a girl’s loss of innocence at the hands of her employer’s son becomes a catalyst for strength and confidence, and a proud nonagenarian rages helplessly in his granddaughter’s hospital room. Romantic, hopeful, brutally raw, and unsparingly honest, some even slipping into the surreal, these stories are, above all, about King’s enduring subject of love.

Now for some fun! Lindsay has a new reading buddy and member to our blog!! I also included a photo of Penny refusing to come in when called. She can’t hear but she is ignoring my hand signals she so obviously can see.

Meet Charlie!!