Week 16
This week I barely worked, got a facial (! I love wellness!), attended the wedding of a long time friend, and caught up with the bits of life admin I neglected whilst ill. Everything hurts, but I feel great!
Cells by Gavin McCrea
Cells is McCrea’s non fiction debut, a telling of his family’s history. During lockdown, he lives with his mother. Her memory is failing. Her sense of self is deteriorating. A woman, once fiercely independent, now requires his daily assistance. As McCrea looks after her, and himself, cooped up in the same flat with no personal space, he returns to his history, his mother’s history, the life they shared.
This book is intimate. It is a book so deeply personal, a book that bares the good, the bad and the ugly of not only McCrea, but his entire family. It is a book so much about personal family history, it felt like reading my own personal family history. Thoughts you can only have about your family, because your family are the only people you can be selfish about. I admire McCrea for laying out his perspective so beautifully.
I am not one to write in depth about someone’s lived experiences, but this was beautifully written. I put it off for months, knowing it needed time and consideration, and I’m glad I waited. It’s sensitivity is paired with beautiful prose, making it an easy easy 5 stars.
Rating: ★★★★★
The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji
The Persians is shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025. It’s a story of an Iranian family, once well regarded, told through the perspective of it’s women. Shirin, Bita, Elizabeth, Seema and Niaz. All are affected by weighty family history, the secrets large and significant. The book centres around a criminal trial where Shirin is the defendant, but the book dips between present day and the past.
The first 45% of this book felt like a slog. Shirin was obnoxious. They all felt like caricatures of what people think Iranian women are like. Sentences felt exaggerated, the characters were confusing and it felt like I’d missed chapters.
The second half slipped away from me. When things began to make sense, when you began to recognise and differentiate the characters and their contexts, it was quick, intense, well written and made up for the previous half. Suddenly, I got it. I started to like the characters, as the rug was pulled from under their feet. This didn’t dazzle me in the way I wanted, but I’m glad I read it and I can see why it’s made the shortlist.
Rating: ★★★★☆