Boaz\u2019s novel opens two weeks after George\u2019s mother, Louise, vanished from Willow, New Mexico. In the year or so before her disappearance, George and their girlfriend, Truley, had been living with Louise in her home. Cobbling together part-time jobs, the two semi-adrift 20-somethings pursued their creative pursuits while Louise, a native New Yorker and former publishing professional, toiled away at her copyediting job at the local paper. George, Louise, and Truley often spent their nights together laughing, gossiping, and drinking wine by the fire; their home may have been happy, but that happiness is fragile. Though Louise quickly bonded with Truley, she was struggling with an all-consuming crush on a young, aloof coworker\u2014and coming to terms with George\u2019s transition. At one point, Louise told her child: \u201cIf I can\u2019t call you by the name I gave you at birth, then you can call me by the name I want to be called by.\u201d The painful yet poignant relationship between the two serves as the novel\u2019s nucleus. Jumping between the past and the present, the short vignettes can feel perplexing at times\u2014but they also provide a cataloging of Louise\u2019s life, which, to the novel\u2019s credit, far outshines her disappearance. As the book comes to a close, George considers what might have happened to their mother, including, but not limited to, having had an unfortunate run-in with a violent man or jumping off a bridge during an existential onslaught. George\u2019s last and favorite theory involves Louise forging a new life and identity\u2014just like themself\u2014and, most importantly, includes the two finding each other again. With this theory, Boaz beautifully renders the complicated relationship between mothers and their children: \u201cBut I know Louise will recognize me, and I will know them anywhere.\u201d George\u2019s mother may be gone\u2014for now, or for good\u2014but their love endures.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boaz\u2019s novel opens two weeks after George\u2019s mother, Louise, vanished from Willow, New Mexico. In the year or so before her disappearance, George and their girlfriend, Truley, had been living with Louise in her home. Cobbling together part-time jobs, the two semi-adrift 20-somethings pursued their creative pursuits while Louise, a native New Yorker and former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}