I wrote this review for Amazon:
"Paint It Black" is a brutal portrayal of a woman who can't mourn in the culturally acceptable way. I read reviews that complained about Josie being self absorbed and how this novel droned on and on and on - depression is a self absorbed condition/desease and when the death is so unexpected, it's hard to believe that someone can easily move on and find someone else. If you don't understand depression and if you don't understand grief on a larger scale, this book will probably bore you and piss you off a bit.
I loved this book not only for a beautifully brutal portrayal of little seen grief, but also for the cultural references that were mentioned in regards to the shaping of this character and how they blended with her moods.
I saw that what some reviewers didn't understand was the eventual relationship between Josie and Meredith; to someone who knows what it's like to have nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to, this relationship, as uncomfortable and just plain odd as it may be, makes sense. These two women were the only ones who had any idea of what the other was going through; this helps them slowly barrel through their hatred and distrust for each other.
I saw this book as a description of a young woman who finally found something meaningful in her life and had it ripped away without warning, which lead to a total upheaval of her life. This book is about her struggle to obtain some semblance of a life of/on her own. It is a painful read but well worth the time it takes to read it.
"Paint It Black" is a brutal portrayal of a woman who can't mourn in the culturally acceptable way. I read reviews that complained about Josie being self absorbed and how this novel droned on and on and on - depression is a self absorbed condition/desease and when the death is so unexpected, it's hard to believe that someone can easily move on and find someone else. If you don't understand depression and if you don't understand grief on a larger scale, this book will probably bore you and piss you off a bit.
I loved this book not only for a beautifully brutal portrayal of little seen grief, but also for the cultural references that were mentioned in regards to the shaping of this character and how they blended with her moods.
I saw that what some reviewers didn't understand was the eventual relationship between Josie and Meredith; to someone who knows what it's like to have nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to, this relationship, as uncomfortable and just plain odd as it may be, makes sense. These two women were the only ones who had any idea of what the other was going through; this helps them slowly barrel through their hatred and distrust for each other.
I saw this book as a description of a young woman who finally found something meaningful in her life and had it ripped away without warning, which lead to a total upheaval of her life. This book is about her struggle to obtain some semblance of a life of/on her own. It is a painful read but well worth the time it takes to read it.
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