One of the best things about the novel’s structure is how increasingly clear it becomes that Zuzu is not a reliable narrator of her own memories. It’s not that the events themselves are incorrect but rather her interpretations, as well as how she reads her own role ... Thomas-Kennedy trusts her readers enough to understand the dynamics at play ... Thomas-Kennedy’s debut is a marvelous study in how much desire lives in memory, in nostalgia and in fantasy. Fittingly for its themes, and for Zuzu, it’s also one of those rare contemporary novels that allows itself to remain unresolved, on a precipice of great change, its future open wide.
Sparks rekindle, and Thomas-Kennedy’s story takes off into a vividly rendered world, ringed with rue ... On the surface, the novel is cringey, in the way that perennial dissatisfaction amidst good fortune is cringey. And yet identity is so subtly mined by Thomas-Kennedy that what appears to be restlessness seems rather to be a wound that even Zuzu can’t articulate. As a portrait of a biracial, bisexual person’s discomfort in the space society allows them, the novel’s lasting effect is nuanced and thought-provoking.
Rich in Zuzu’s lifelike conversations and interiority, Thomas-Kennedy’s debut is a humbly expansive marriage story and a tale of growing older in lockstep with a version of yourself that gets to stay young.
The characters and themes at the center of this story don’t quite deliver ... Much of the story relies on happenstance: First, Zuzu’s father dies. Then, it just so happens that Noel, the only other biracial person Zuzu knew growing up, attended the same college she did and now lives in the apartment above her sister’s house ... Zuzu’s experience of race is regularly referenced without being fully explored, stunting an otherwise engaging throughline. Finally, a sudden repair required in Cash’s house leads his wife and daughter to leave town for the weekend. He conveniently stays behind, alone in a hotel. It’s fine, necessary even, for characters to behave badly, and for coincidence to play a part, but they should do so in interesting ways.
