I am back with another
book review through NetGalley. I received the e-book for free, and all
opinions are my own.
183 Times a Year by Eva Jordan tells the story of a tumultuous
mother/daughter relationship between Lizzie and Cassie. It is another
duo-narrated story that accurately represents the major differences between
mother and daughter. Lizzie is the mom putting too much pressure on herself
within all aspects of her life. She does whatever she can as a mother, which
often goes unappreciated. She has
brilliant moments of sass that makes one smile. Overall, Lizzie is a positive
character, and we feel for her when she realizes her mother/daughter bond
dreams are dashed. I felt so connected to Lizzie when she was seeking moments
of clarity and laughed when the truth about her younger years came out.
Eventually, Lizzie starts to break under the tensions in her life and the
appearance of a “black dog” in her mind becomes troubling. Cassie is the
typical teenage girl. She is self-centered, glued to her phone, worried about
appearance, and curious about boys. Her need to impress her fake friends is
disheartening, and her ignorance to popular sayings is frustrating to a reader. Her life
eventually starts to fall into place when she moves on to college. By the end,
Cassie is forced to grow up and is all the better for it.
The duo-perspective
adds the best narration to expose the full tension between Lizzie and Cassie.
Throughout the novel, we see the stress that generation gaps have on
relationships. The issues the two ladies deal with are widely different, and it
is interesting to see how they each deal with their problems. In these
situations, we also see how similar they can be (which is everyone’s worst
nightmare right?). Lizzie and Cassie are dealing with past emotional turmoil
and it is clear that, although sometimes destructive, their actions and
thoughts are a result of pain and resentment left from the past. Lizzie is
clearly trying as hard as she can to be to be the best mother but tends only to
come face to face with the wrath of her teenage daughter. Ultimately, this
relationships is tested in an unimaginable way.
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When it comes to the
breakdown of the novel, I love that the chapters are titled. The titles are
usually clever and connect the Cassie storyline and the Lizzie storyline in
some way. The duo-narration doesn’t always work for me in general, but this added the
perfect touch for the nature of the novel. The narrations separately are
wonderful as well. Jordan skillfully changes her style in order to create
voices for her characters. This works well and creates a bond between reader
and character. The narrations are accurate representations of the way people
talk and think, and it is natural to read. The only issue I had is that it
took a while for the two storylines to come together in the inevitable crash.
During that major moment, other narrations are added in which creates an intensity
that would otherwise be lost.
The issue I’m having
with the media age is that authors must identify social media by changing the
font, and I do not like that at all. The double narration sometimes switched
too quickly within a chapter, and the way Jordan mimics the way Lizzie slurs when she’s
drunk isn’t as effective as relying on the reader’s imagination. As I said
before, it took a while for the inciting moment to happen, and I felt the novel
starting to become tedious. Since being in the UK, I fully appreciate the
mention of accents and slang, but I think it would be difficult for someone
outside of the UK to understand. The twist in the end is emotional, and I fully
did not expect it to happen. It was absolutely incredible to reach the end, and
I had actual tears running down my face. Jordan is extremely skillful at ending in cliff-hangers
and leading us to make assumptions. The last chapter is absolute perfection,
and I actually had to re-read to let it fully sink in.
This novel took me on
an amazing journey that led to self-reflection about my own relationship with
my mother. I’ve also ordered a hard copy to send to my mom. I didn’t expect to
like this book as much as I did, and I’m giving it a 4/5. It doesn’t quite make
it onto my favourite books list for a 5/5, but it is pretty close.
-Daniella
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