Review by HR Stanley -- Like My Mother Before Me
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HR Stanley
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Review by HR Stanley -- Like My Mother Before Me
[Following is a volunteer review of "Like My Mother Before Me" by Naley Gonzalez.]
Like My Mother Before Me by Naley Gonzalez is a fast-paced short read. The lack of padding enables the tale to race over our senses in a roller coaster ride of normality and the paranormal. This leaves your senses heightened at the end to every slight creak on the stairs and flicker of the lightbulb.
Alize is a teenager who is in the midst of her journey to discovering who she is. She lives with her Father – Gabriel – and her older brother – Ezra. We are told only her mother died when Alize and Ezra were young, and of relatives from either side of the family, we are told nothing – as have Alize and Ezra. Into this mix of family, dynamics enters their God Mother – their Tía Ida – she was their Mothers best friend. Gabriel and Zoraida loath each other but for Alize and Ezra's sake, they tolerate each other. Until that hatred finds its way out as Alize's life seems to unravel before their eyes, this hatred is then fed upon by an unseen guest with residency in the house.
I found Alize to be refreshing. She is not a 'perfect' teenager who gets straight A's, never misses a day of school and is oh so good. Instead, we see her struggling with classes, skipping school and smoking weed. We also see her struggling with a well-known condition – to do homework or hang out with friends. Her life in her eyes is excellent, and her volleyball dream is becoming one step closer. Her life, however, begins to fall apart when she sees a ghost. She assumes she is going crazy, and an overheard conversation between her father and Zoraida concerning her mother and her mental health does nothing to dispel her belief. In amongst all of this, we see her get into a fight over a guy and her volleyball dream slipping through her fingers. We watch as her best friend falls apart and Alize's struggle to help her. Alize also fights with hidden and dark dangers that she has yet to understand, along with her battle to suppress her 'craziness' and keep it hidden from those she loves.
The ending surprised me and left me with questions about how the paranormal/spirit world works. I came to the tale with little understanding of the subject, and I feel I may end up down a rabbit hole of research in discovering the answers. However, my lack of knowledge did not affect my enjoyment of this well-written tale. I feel, in some ways, it gave me the freedom to relax and enjoy what I was reading without being distracted as to the realisticness of the plot.
This is not only a tale of a teenager beginning her psychic journey but also of teenagers learning how to navigate a world of friendships, responsibility, competitors, 'enemies’ and love. All of which are written with understanding and in an insightful manner.
The characters are full of life and the ghost, along with Alize, is sassy and believable. I liked the family's domestic setting and found their ‘normality’ to be a wonderful backdrop to the paranormal activity invading their lives. I enjoyed seeing the characters lives outside of the plot and their emotions to the situations they encountered and too new arrivals in their lives. This peak into their everyday lives led to a more emphatic contrast with the chaos and new ‘normality’ of the books ending.
The book has some profound language both in English and Spanish – although I didn’t look the words up, their context gave me a good idea of their meaning. Some scenes explore sexual violence, violence, neglect of a teenager and underage drinking and weed smoking. I would therefore not recommend this book to those who are sensitive to these subjects.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 because of the fast-paced roller coaster ride through a world of the seen and unseen. Being dyslexic, I found this book an easy read. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy short reads, the paranormal, older teenagers and adults.
******
Like My Mother Before Me
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like My Mother Before Me by Naley Gonzalez is a fast-paced short read. The lack of padding enables the tale to race over our senses in a roller coaster ride of normality and the paranormal. This leaves your senses heightened at the end to every slight creak on the stairs and flicker of the lightbulb.
Alize is a teenager who is in the midst of her journey to discovering who she is. She lives with her Father – Gabriel – and her older brother – Ezra. We are told only her mother died when Alize and Ezra were young, and of relatives from either side of the family, we are told nothing – as have Alize and Ezra. Into this mix of family, dynamics enters their God Mother – their Tía Ida – she was their Mothers best friend. Gabriel and Zoraida loath each other but for Alize and Ezra's sake, they tolerate each other. Until that hatred finds its way out as Alize's life seems to unravel before their eyes, this hatred is then fed upon by an unseen guest with residency in the house.
I found Alize to be refreshing. She is not a 'perfect' teenager who gets straight A's, never misses a day of school and is oh so good. Instead, we see her struggling with classes, skipping school and smoking weed. We also see her struggling with a well-known condition – to do homework or hang out with friends. Her life in her eyes is excellent, and her volleyball dream is becoming one step closer. Her life, however, begins to fall apart when she sees a ghost. She assumes she is going crazy, and an overheard conversation between her father and Zoraida concerning her mother and her mental health does nothing to dispel her belief. In amongst all of this, we see her get into a fight over a guy and her volleyball dream slipping through her fingers. We watch as her best friend falls apart and Alize's struggle to help her. Alize also fights with hidden and dark dangers that she has yet to understand, along with her battle to suppress her 'craziness' and keep it hidden from those she loves.
The ending surprised me and left me with questions about how the paranormal/spirit world works. I came to the tale with little understanding of the subject, and I feel I may end up down a rabbit hole of research in discovering the answers. However, my lack of knowledge did not affect my enjoyment of this well-written tale. I feel, in some ways, it gave me the freedom to relax and enjoy what I was reading without being distracted as to the realisticness of the plot.
This is not only a tale of a teenager beginning her psychic journey but also of teenagers learning how to navigate a world of friendships, responsibility, competitors, 'enemies’ and love. All of which are written with understanding and in an insightful manner.
The characters are full of life and the ghost, along with Alize, is sassy and believable. I liked the family's domestic setting and found their ‘normality’ to be a wonderful backdrop to the paranormal activity invading their lives. I enjoyed seeing the characters lives outside of the plot and their emotions to the situations they encountered and too new arrivals in their lives. This peak into their everyday lives led to a more emphatic contrast with the chaos and new ‘normality’ of the books ending.
The book has some profound language both in English and Spanish – although I didn’t look the words up, their context gave me a good idea of their meaning. Some scenes explore sexual violence, violence, neglect of a teenager and underage drinking and weed smoking. I would therefore not recommend this book to those who are sensitive to these subjects.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 because of the fast-paced roller coaster ride through a world of the seen and unseen. Being dyslexic, I found this book an easy read. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy short reads, the paranormal, older teenagers and adults.
******
Like My Mother Before Me
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Latest Review: Like My Mother Before Me by Naley Gonzalez
