Holy crap. What a fantastic concept. Think Daisy Jones and the Six and The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, but a bit different in structure. Told from the point of view of the daughter of a polarizing photographer who struggles with her sense of self, motherhood, and the pull of her undying, first love: art; the arrangements of the narration bounce between multiple perspectives. Interviews, journal entries, and recollections of the “author” herself paint a picture that so often do not coalesce half as well as fictions like this one. Or even nonfiction memoirs, really.

But it’s especially difficult to make everything feel authentic because nonfiction that this masquerades as have to find an arc in a real life person, and can be really tricky to nail, imo. In this, because it’s fiction, it may be easier to draw the arc but you also have to craft it from multiple perspectives in such a way as to make the person feel “real”. Most of the time I shake my head reading memoirs and biographies because they are so rose coloured or biased in extreme ways. Numerous Jim Morrison ones come to mind, basically all of them, but the most recent one published last year also have that problem. So I just find it both such an interesting idea to take an oral history and kitbash it, while all of it being fiction, and an accomplishment.

I can’t go into too many non spoiler details as to why this feels authentic but the ending especially feels genuine in such a way that, in reality, I wonder if a non fiction story would get away with it, in the sense that the publisher would be okay with it. The dynamic between each character feels like any other family, and it has gorgeous prose. Had I been more smart I’d have snapped a few photos for quotes. It’s perfectly balanced and I’d go so far as to put it in my all time favourite shelf, along with, maybe, modern classics. Surprised this didn’t get more attention, to be honest.

I listened to the audiobook as well as read it, and once again these oral history types with full casts demonstrate the strength of audiobooks. Arguably the best way to consume them, although in this particular case, there are just such gorgeous prose you’d be left out there, too.