Muharrar’s work developing her main characters throughout the story allows her to explore deeper themes of grief and loss in the final third of the book without too much sentimentality. Closure may be too much to ask for these grieving women, but it’s enough that they realize they still have lives to live without the object of the book’s title.
Expertly walks the line between humorous and heartbreaking, vividly rendering the complexities of grief as Julia chases Gabe’s possessions around London and Barcelona.
There isn’t enough time for us to understand Julia’s adult self, even with flashbacks to other times her life intersected with Gabe’s. Nor is there enough space for Elizabeth to come to life beyond her chic exterior. Muharrar’s fluid writing promises interesting future work, but this book might have remained a short story. Poignant and well written, but with a slim premise and insufficient character development.
