Night, Forgotten - WOW!
NIGHT,
FORGOTTEN – Meghan
Joyce Tozer’s debut novel is a most fascinating, challenging book, which I
highly recommend. (Note: While I don’t
know the author well, I heard of the book indirectly through meeting her in
person recently.)
I believe
that she is particularly hoping to reach other women (and perhaps older teenage
young women. As an older, cis/ hettish,
white man I found the book intense.
While
reading this book, I often, I felt a lot of sadness and other deep
emotions. The narrator’s story frequently
related to self-doubts, fueled by feeling “not heard” by the adults she cared
about.
This book
could trigger some – particularly women and girls who’ve faced particular major
traumas in their lives. At the same
time, it may assist them in unpacking some of what may have been hard
(previously) to process.
“Julie” is a
caring relatively young, married woman whose life has centered around an
immediate circle of those in her day-to-day life. Besides her spouse, her mother-in-law is
intrusive and overbearing. Additionally,
there is her best friend, her next door neighbor – separated by woods (in suburban
Boston). Both her husband, and she
(alone) rapidly become a key part of her story.
The story is
deeply troubling, and very dark. Its
subject matter will be strongly relevant to the life experiences of many,
particularly women and girls.
Moving back
and forth – between just before and then after the horrible incident the story
focuses upon was very effective in engaging me, as a reader.
Meghan Joyce
Tozer digs deeply into issues related to gender, trust, believing in oneself
(or not) and much more. This is an
intense psychological (almost) thriller.
For me, Night,
Forgotten, poses deep questions for me the reader. The answers and even further questions, I
will ponder for a long time.
The
confusing parts of things (for me at least), open me up to thinking of my
preconceived notions of deep life issues.
I’m also stretched into reconsidering and expanding my vision(s) of some
serious things in my life.
Though
totally, totally different, this book reminds me of the movie: Promising Young Woman – see:
https://www.georgemarx.org/2021/01/promising-young-woman.html
In both stories, the authors/directors – deeply passionate
women – personalize in a most meaningful ways – serious issues deserving a lot
more attention than they usually get due to sexism/ The Patriarchy.
This is a
deeply thoughtfully written book! It
engaged my interest and my emotions, and didn’t take long to read, despite not
being a short novel! I highly recommend
it!
I would add
that the author also – showed her concern for “the issues” by listing relevant
resources to help her readers, as well as posing questions for readers to think
about, and ideally discuss with others who (also) have read the book.
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