All the Things we Do in the Dark, by Saundra Mitchell - Sian
“Nooo! I forgot my book. What am I going to read while I eat my lunch?!”
“You’re in a book shop – just pick something!”
“Fine! This one!”
Ah, a love story for the ages: a human and their book, reluctantly meeting in a flurry of hunger and desperation. Alas, we did meet, and that’s what truly matters! So here we go…
Ava has been through enough. Like, from childhood, she’s been through enough pain and fear for a lifetime. She’s dealing with far more than what should have been her lot; anyone’s lot, for that matter. But there are bad people out there, and because of bad people, Ava knows how to protect herself. Her mother knows how to protect her. So does her best friend, her tattoo artist, her… well, that’s about it really. Those are all the people.
But Ava literally strays down the wrong path one day, and she finds a dead body. She names her Jane Doe, and she is her friend. Not the alive Jane Doe; the dead Jane Doe. Jane was hurt too, just like Ava was. Ava can tell. Jane Doe was lucky enough to die from her pain. Ava is left behind to live with the hers.
In protecting Jane from further humiliation, grief, and anguish, Ava doesn’t tell a soul about her. Not even her best friend or her mother or her tattoo artist.
And as if finding a dead body weren’t frightening enough for a trauma-riddled teenager, she also falls in love in the same week. The world is bonkers, and it keeps surprising Ava. And things only get more twisted from there.
A member of our book club describes certain books as “Soul Books”. I suppose that is a play on soulmate, and frankly, it is perfection. And in grabbing this book at random one day, I found my third Soul Book*.
There are short breaks in this story for poetry. The prose is its very own special poetry. It is lyrical, immeasurable, unemulated; it has clarity and irreverence and power that I have been needing to drink down like a thirsty peasant. At times, I just had to put the book down, shut my eyes, and think about nothing. Just to give myself a chance to catch up.
This book is deceptively powerful and an emotional ride. Approach with caution, and with open arms. I’ll certainly be keeping it close for a while.
*The other two are “The Fault in our Stars”, by John Green; and “I’ll Give You the Sun”, by Jandy Nelson.
- Sian
Content warning: assault, sexual trauma, flashbacks
