REVIEWED BY Micky Barnard
A Charm of Finches by Suanne LaqueurMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Deep, dark and beautiful.
A CHARM OF FINCHES has hit me so hard from venturing into the first pages to the last; there is a high emotional price to reading this book but it is worth it. This book has some of the most beautiful writing I’ve encountered in contemporary fiction. It’s not pretty-beautiful but ugly-beautiful and if none of what I say makes sense, then I’m sorry but I am unwilling to spoil a moment of this for potential readers.
This book is set around a context so foul and hideous that it’s hard to look and also hard to look away. The story is difficult to navigate but so very important. What is between these pages has the potential for your average person to see a marginalised and violated population, small but in need of recognition and voice. Suanne Laqueur draws you into this difficult world through characters that are tragic, wonderful and they feel like your family by the end.
If you’ve read AN EXALTATION OF LARKS, then you’ll be expecting Javier and in this second book, his character becomes something else and I grew even more in crush with him than before. Stef was a man that I admired from the beginning and I moved to be in awe when seeing him at work. He was a genius in his field and a very real person in his home life.
“I want this feeling I have with him. When I’m around him, I feel honest. I feel authentic. I feel myself and I see so clearly who I want to be and the life I want to lead. And the kind of person I want to have with me on the ride. A curator and a sailor.”
The other character that is all-consuming in this book is Geno. In fact, most of your thoughts in this book centre around Geno. If you want to experience character development then this is the book to read and Geno is the one to watch. I would like more of Geno in a future book. Then there’s Micah, his past touched me hugely and I admired this man’s ability to help another heal. So really, this book is all about the men, the good, the bad, the ugly.
I’ve buddy read this arc and I’m so grateful to have had a virtual hand to hold, the ability to share tears and discuss chapter to chapter with. We lost ourselves in this book and we felt in free-fall from about 60%. How Suanne Laqueur wrote the content of this book, sensitively, beautifully, finding the light amongst the darkness, I do not know. I am awestruck at her writing, of how she wrote a love affair amidst the dirt of the worst humans, of how she made me laugh, then cry and then sigh with the feelings of it all. This is the best book I know I’ve personally experienced in recent years and I award it all the stars in Nos.
A copy of this book was provided by the author, in return for a honest review.
Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog.
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