Sunday, January 25, 2009

Kit's Law


Once I opened Kit's" Law, I did not put it away until I had read all 383 pages. Granted, this was during the Christmas break when I was off from work and could wake up at whatever hour I pleased the morning after.

What in this first novel hooked me? I'm not sure. I told you before that I like novels that attempt to capture the inside story of mental illness. Maybe that's it. Maybe I was fascinated with how this teenager dealt with having a woman with a child's mind for a mother. It was a scenario I couldn't resist letting Donna Morissey pull me into. And believe me I got into it for there were times I bawled as though I were Kit, caught in the middle of this unusual trilogy of women.

But then maybe it was the moral dilemmas that Kit must come to terms with that kept me turning the pages. Kit must choose between her own freedom and doing what's best for her mom. Kit also makes a startling discovery which forces her to make the most difficult choice of all.

I must admit that the first few chapters were slow moving and I might have put away the book if Lizzy (Kit's grandma and surrogate mother) hadn't died suddenly. For me that's where the action begins, though the the preceeding chapters were essential to getting me rooting for Kit.

I enjoyed the Newfoundland dialect which marks the narration, and there are several very engaging secondary characters. What I did not like was the tortuous route to a resolution which I found to be morally ambivalent. This was a disappointment for me since the entire novel was so critical of duplicity and ambivalence.

6 comments:

Daisy Soap Girl said...

Glad to see you up and reviewing again.

J.M said...

Taw, Del.

ruthibel said...

That sounds like a yummy book, like a nice 'get into my mind and see the my side' kinda book.

It reminds me of a Judy Piccolt Book I read as well: My Sister's Keeper (or something so). This girl is continuously used to provide bone marrow for her sister, who has some kind of cancer. her parents actually had her with the intention that she would help to keep her sister alive. Eventually, this girl reaches the age and stage where she must decide whether she wants to continue being used as a donor for her sister, or whether she wants to start living her own life. It gets really complicated because it seems like her sister's existenc is dependent on her, and yet her independence is at stake.

I know, not similar to Kit's mother-child relationship, but the moral dilemma is similar, and books like that always get me thinking...

Guilt certainly is a powerful emotion. It seems to me that guilt is what characterises and complicates most moral decisions...

Unknown said...

Sounds interesting.

Fly Girl said...

Jackie, where are you? I'm waiting for more posts!

J.M said...

Fly Girl, I soon get back to the pre-christmas series of posts, if that's what you wondering about. The next couple of posts will be about books I've read recently.