Genre

General Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

Audience

Ages 16 and Up

Author’s Worldview

Catholic

Year Published

2022

Themes

Motherhood, Anxiety, Depression, Friendship, Marriage

 

Reviewed by

M.S. Ocampo

Cara Nielsen is a mother taking on the big city alongside her husband. This contemporary novel follows Cara as she struggles to raise two toddlers while balancing her anxiety and depression.

This novel reminds me of Everything, Everywhere, All at Once without the multiverse factor. Cara is juggling depression, discontent, anxiety, and paranoia over worst-case scenarios regarding her children. Cara struggles to connect with her own children without anyone else helping her out. Cara is isolated from any sort of extended family, and her husband works as the sole breadwinner. As much as she loves her kids, being a mother isn’t something she instantly learns how to cope with. At the same time, she has friends, goes to therapy, and has a life outside of being a housewife and a mother. She loves going to the movies, for example. Movies are a sort of escapism for her, but they sell her a lie, glamorizing life in the big city.

Cara is trying to figure out what being a mother and what being herself mean. She used to be a working woman, a journalist and a movie reviewer. With two kids, however, she has to balance her new life while trying to keep elements of the life she used to have. Cara says that motherhood adds a whole new dimension to her understanding of life.

The contemplative nature of the book makes the events seem very slice-of-life at first–until Cara gets caught up in a whirlwind of crisis after crisis involving her circle of friends. Cara stands in the eye of a metaphorical hurricane, while her friends deal with their marriages falling apart and other personal issues, all while Cara is trying to keep her own life together.

The Catholic themes in this novel are quite prominent. Cara goes to church along with her family, and there are scenes where a priest gives a sermon that ties into the overall themes of the novel. Cara also develops a devotion to Saint Augustine and turns to his wisdom quite often. Cara’s faith gives her some sense of stability and helps her when she gets caught in the hurricane.

I recommend this novel for readers who like a slow-burn drama and enjoy character studies. Catholic mothers who are raising young children will particularly enjoy this read, even if they don’t live in a big city, because the setting is quite immersive.

Celtic Crossing by Len Mattano

Relic lost, and faith found.

Feel-Good Books For Pandemic Summer

Book Therapy to chase the blues away

Sydney and Calvin Have a Baby by Adrienne Thorn

Sydney writes romances but living her own romance will require more courage than anything yet required of her.

The Grace Crasher by Mara Faro

The Grace Crasher is the ecumenical romantic dramedy that everyone who has ever had family members in split churches needs to read.

Books for Lent

Deepen your Lenten reflection with these stories of repentance and forgiveness

August & September New Book Releases

Step into Fall with a Good Book

Ghosts of the Faithful by Kaye Park Hinckley

The O’Murphy family gets help from beyond the grave as they deal with long held secrets.

The Boy Who Knew (Friends in High Places: Carlo Acutis) by Corinna Turner

Faced with his death, a fifteen-year-old learns how to live through the wisdom of Blessed Carlo Acutis.

Champion of the Poor: Father Joe Walijewski by Voyage Comics

Meet the priest who spread the love of God in Peru.

Someday by Corinna Turner

Ordinary schoolgirls face a terrible fate: abuse, forced marriages, and even death at the hands of Islamic extremists.

Beneath Wandering Stars by Ashlee Cowles

A young girl goes pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago on behalf of her brother and finds her place in the world.

Freeing Tanner Rose by T.M. Gaouette

Hollywood Starlet meets Kung Fu Country boy with a God obsession.

The Destiny of Sunshine Ranch by T.M. Gaouette

A foster kid learns that sometimes the scariest part of life is accepting love.

Saving the Statue of Liberty By Andrea Jo Rodgers

Can John save the Statue of Liberty and keep from getting kicked off the team and out of the Academy?

Best Books of 2022

Our favorite book finds of the year!

Revelation by Flannery O’Connor

Flannery O’Connor takes us into the mental experience of one of those people Jesus condemned.

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman

A cloistered nun confronts her faith when she realizes that the private revelations she has been given might be the product of epilepsy.

The Book of Jotham by Arthur Powers

Experience Christ through the eyes of Jotham, his disabled disciple.

The Table by Dennis Lambert

A table built by the grandfather of Jesus Christ survives the darkest moment in history to bring peace to a widowed musician