Before You Knew My Name
How would I describe this debut novel from Jacqueline Bublitz? It’s a sobering, yet illuminating emotional gut punch with hope glimmering around its edges. It’s tragic and beautiful, and it’s raw in a way that may get under your skin and surface all kinds of difficult feelings - especially if you’re female. If you’re looking for escapist fiction - this isn’t it. What it is, though, is a refreshingly unvarnished and thoughtful look at what it feels like to navigate and survive in this world as a woman.
Two women experiencing loneliness and aimlessness in their lives make the decision to abandon their current lives and move to NYC. Alice Lee has just turned eighteen and been rejected by her high school teacher who groomed her into an underage affair. Basically My Dark Vanessa vibes. When Alice answers an ad for a room in the NYC home of a benevolent older gentleman named Noah, she sees the chance to start over. Unfortunately, these new beginnings become her ending soon after.
Ruby Jones is a 36-year-old single Aussie who’s been strung along in an affair with a soon-to-be-married co-worker. She sees NYC as a chance to escape all her married friends and her own hopeless relationship. When she discovers Alice’s body while out jogging one day, she’s immediately drawn into this Jane Doe’s story, determined to find out who she is and what led to her murder. In her effort to find answers, she befriends Lennie, Sue and Josh, who are well-acquainted with death and have formed Death Club to process their ideas about it. It sounds dark, but this was one of my favorite parts of the book and brought some welcome levity.
There’s nothing flashy about this book. Unlike many books in the genre, it’s not out to be clever or shock you with unseen twists. It’s a solid mystery, with Alice narrating her own story from before her death and both hers and Ruby’s stories from the omniscient “beyond”. As the blurb says, the focus is intentionally less on “whodunnit” and more on “who was SHE?” It’s quiet and often somber in tone, but it’s also beautifully written and gives the reader insight, through Alice and Ruby, into the conscious and unconscious ways women speak and behave as they move through their lives. I loved both of these characters and how their stories intertwined.
Is this inherently feminist in its leanings? Yes. What I appreciated is that it doesn’t resort to blatant misandry to make its point. These issues would be and are equally true of ANY relationship in which there’s a power imbalance, regardless of gender.
It wasn’t a fun read, in the traditional sense, but it was a good read, and one whose ideas will stick with me. I’ll definitely be watching for more from this author!
★★★★
Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books, NetGalley and author Jacqueline Bublitz for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. It’s due to be published November 1st, 2022.
Two women experiencing loneliness and aimlessness in their lives make the decision to abandon their current lives and move to NYC. Alice Lee has just turned eighteen and been rejected by her high school teacher who groomed her into an underage affair. Basically My Dark Vanessa vibes. When Alice answers an ad for a room in the NYC home of a benevolent older gentleman named Noah, she sees the chance to start over. Unfortunately, these new beginnings become her ending soon after.
Ruby Jones is a 36-year-old single Aussie who’s been strung along in an affair with a soon-to-be-married co-worker. She sees NYC as a chance to escape all her married friends and her own hopeless relationship. When she discovers Alice’s body while out jogging one day, she’s immediately drawn into this Jane Doe’s story, determined to find out who she is and what led to her murder. In her effort to find answers, she befriends Lennie, Sue and Josh, who are well-acquainted with death and have formed Death Club to process their ideas about it. It sounds dark, but this was one of my favorite parts of the book and brought some welcome levity.
There’s nothing flashy about this book. Unlike many books in the genre, it’s not out to be clever or shock you with unseen twists. It’s a solid mystery, with Alice narrating her own story from before her death and both hers and Ruby’s stories from the omniscient “beyond”. As the blurb says, the focus is intentionally less on “whodunnit” and more on “who was SHE?” It’s quiet and often somber in tone, but it’s also beautifully written and gives the reader insight, through Alice and Ruby, into the conscious and unconscious ways women speak and behave as they move through their lives. I loved both of these characters and how their stories intertwined.
Is this inherently feminist in its leanings? Yes. What I appreciated is that it doesn’t resort to blatant misandry to make its point. These issues would be and are equally true of ANY relationship in which there’s a power imbalance, regardless of gender.
It wasn’t a fun read, in the traditional sense, but it was a good read, and one whose ideas will stick with me. I’ll definitely be watching for more from this author!
★★★★
Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books, NetGalley and author Jacqueline Bublitz for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. It’s due to be published November 1st, 2022.
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