Review: Yesterday Mourning
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 26, 2013
Yesterday Mourning is an unflinching exploration of grief, abandonment, anger, resentment, and ultimately, forgiveness.Told from alternating viewpoints; two stepsisters paint a portrait of a flawed, but loving father, who in trying to heal his own grief over the loss of his beloved first wife, loses the love and respect of his first family, while gaining the love of his stepdaughter. A dual first person narrative can be a tricky thing, often there's not enough differentiation between the two voices, and I found that to be true in this case. The attitudes, phrasing, and word choices of the two stepsisters, who are virtual strangers to one another, seemed very similar to me. But their descriptions and perceptions of the people surrounding them brought those peripheral characters to life.Written in elegant and restrained prose, this story has an aching reality to it. Death isn't always the end of pain, often it's just the start.I received a complimentary copy of this book for an honest and non-reciprocal review.