This was the choice for my bookclub for the month of January and I can’t wait to discuss with them about this one. – This blog post contains spoilers! Please proceed with caution!
I would like to start off with saying there are no trigger warnings listed in this book and I feel like there should be. We are dealing with sexual assault of a child (multiple) forced abortion (no consent) and the murder of infants.
Juliet is a spoiled little girl. She laments being raised in a small village away from the bright lights of the city. She’s a typical 16 year old who is betrothed to a snotty village boy. The difference being, she has caught the attention of the artist who summers next door to her family home. I think this is supposed to be a romantic story of an artist who loves his muse, but let’s keep in mind he’s a fully grown man with a wife and children and she is a 16 year old child. Of course, Juliet’s mother finds out about the relationship and is enraged. Unlike typical mothers, Therese has ties to the occult and plays around with dark matters she does not fully understand, cursing her daughter and the artist, Marchant, the be tied together over and over through different lives for eternity.
Thus begins the multiple lives of our main character, Helen Lambert, who learns who she and her ex husband Roger, truly are through a series of dreams and flashbacks, while being guided by her administrator.
There are some really interesting parts of this book and a lot of the musical and artist references are incredible. You really do feel as though you are walking along the streets in Paris or seeing the music scene along Sunset Strip.
Honestly, Helen is the least interesting version and I guess I’m glad she was able to combine her past selves into one whole person. The epilogue maybe hints that she finally does get a chance to be with her real true love that has been constant in all her versions, but he’s kind of a flat character that has been in love with her for over a hundred years, which after 400+ pages, I’m still not really sure why. Helen’s best friend is a characature of a gay man. He’s flamboyant and sassy, and really only serves bitchy comments on Helen’s post divorce body size and dating, and demand Starbucks. Ew. This was written in 2020 – do better.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Book Reviews 