I had been in a bit of a reading slump lately, i.e., it had been a minute since I had a slam dunk, a can’t-put-down book that was going to make me shout about it to innocent bystanders. I asked my reading peeps for something that would fill this void and my friend delivered on all cylinders. I’M EXCITED TO SHOUT ABOUT THIS BOOK AT YOU. I loved it 5000. This book is tasty and scrumptious. A true chef’s kiss of literary perfection: a well-written page-turner that caused me to pump my fist in the air in righteous vindication.
This is a book who about women who have had enough and are going to do something about it. It is about women who take their power into their own hands and don’t listen to anyone who might say they are too weak or old or powerless to bring about change to their circumstances. It is violent and surprising and thoughtful and I haven’t read anything else quite like it.
In The Change, Nessa, Harriet, and Jo are each facing their own personal reckoning with middle age. But when Nessa begins to hear voices, as her grandmother did before her, she knows that she is coming into her power. It’s time to help the dead find peace, but she can’t do it alone. She finds unlikely allies in Harriet, who is quickly getting a reputation as the unhinged witch in their small town, and Jo, who has waged a life-long war with her body, willing it to bend to her will, but shamed by what she perceives as its failures. But maybe she’s wrong. Maybe they’ve all been wrong, and they have more to offer. And it’s going to be a reckoning.
I want all women to read this book. I want all men to read this book. Maaaaybe not all youths because though Kirsten Miller is known as a YA author, I don’t know if this would resonate with younger audiences. That isn’t to say it’s inappropriate, just that I think a revenge story of middle-aged women hits best with people who are middle age, or at least in that ballpark. This book has a comic book style of storytelling (not to mention some magical realism) and paints its characters in fairly broad stripes but I found it to be cathartic and fascinating and it’s definitely going to be on my top 5 of this year.
