“I think people deserve to have their secrets.”

This is a book about the complexity of families. It has two timelines: present day and the late 70s in Syria and Lebanon. The present day timeline is strewn throughout the world – California, Texas, New York, and Beirut – just like the family about which this story is told.

Alyan allows this journey to beautifully unfold. It took me a while to see where she was going and I considered abandoning the book, but she hooked me about halfway through and I had to travel with the Nasrs back to their family home in Beirut and learn all their painful secrets.

This family is funny. I laughed out loud at their antics and the way they communicated with each other – the writing made it feel so real. They’re also quite tragic, like most of us, and I was tearing up near the end. Our lives are complicated and almost never as they appear, aren’t they?

A fun coincidence with this book: it alludes to A Streetcar Named Desire quite often, which I recently read. The allusion crystalizes about halfway through and it would have totally gone over my head if I’d never read Streetcar. I love it when it feels like the author and I are sharing secrets – it makes for a rich reading experience.

I typically dislike stream of consciousness books, but was able to find my rhythm with these characters within just a few pages. This book is set just outside of Manchester, England during one of the covid lockdowns. Kate, a single mother, goes completely stir crazy and decides to slip out, just for a bit, and take a quick hike down one of her most well-traveled paths. She leaves her teenage son napping in the house, her phone in her bedroom, and no note because, of course, she'll be back before he even realizes she's gone.

Unfortunately, she slips, falls, and suffers a major injury that will require a rescue team and intensive medical intervention to recover from. But before that rescue team can even search for her, her son has to realize she's gone and approach their neighbor, Alice, for help.

I found this slim novel to be riveting and full of the conundrums we've all been facing these last couple of years. How can we tend to our own self care while ensuring the safety of those around us? How careful is too careful? Where's the line?

Love Medicine was the first selection for a Louise Erdrich book club that I'm a part of. This was due to be finished in February, but I'm the worst book club member in the whole world. I started the book in January, put it aside because I had a difficult time finding my groove, the book discussion came and went, and I only picked it up again last week.

I was so confused for the first 150 pages or so and was just about to abandon the book altogether. And then something clicked for me and I could not put it down. I was riveted by the families Erdrich introduced us to and, once they began to take shape, couldn't let go of their stories. This is clearly foundational reading for all of Erdrich's future novels and I feel privileged to have read it. I can imagine myself referencing this book as I read more of her work.

(I have my next book club selection sitting on my desk as we speak. I am planning to be much more responsible for this one!)

This book was full of great activities and focused on all different stages of children's writing development. I'd recommend it to all parents, homeschooling or not, who want to do everything they can to encourage their children to write and draw.

read aloud with Bronwyn