What Remains Unsaid

 What Remains Unsaid by Audrey Kalman    258 pages

After reading the first chapter of this novel, I sure pretty sure I wasn’t going to finish it. Thank heavens for my 50-page rule.

In that first chapter, Kalman does what every writer is told to do: drop the reader into the middle of the action. Usually that works, but not in this instance. Sean has bound his mother to a kitchen chair and is holding her at gunpoint. He acts and sounds suicidal. Since there isn’t enough information in the section for me to feel empathy with either character, I was put off by the melodrama.

Then the point of view switches to Ma, or Ginny as the reader comes to know her. This is an amazing piece of writing. Merely looking at the words on the page, the reader would think that the story is told, not shown. But somehow, Ginny’s voice comes through. I felt as if I was reading dialogue, with vividly painted pictures. Readers basically learn her life story, especially of her relationships with her best friend, Nora, and Sean’s father, Keith.

Every so often, the scene reverts to the present and the kitchen turmoil that is unfolding. That jolted me out of the story, and seemed irrelevant to the story.

Nora and Keith each have their own sections with their stories to tell. Again, the reader enjoys amazing writing similar to Ginny’s. Also, again, every so often, the scene shifts to Sean and Ginny in the kitchen.

After I finished the book, I still wasn’t sure why Sean’s escapade had to be in the book at all. I couldn’t find a reason for his actions, unless it was to justify the ending.  The back-cover copy wasn’t any help in understanding. I originally decided to review this books based, once again for me, by the cover and the title.

After finishing the novel, I headed to Amazon to learn what others thought, not that I really cared, I was merely curious. It was there that I learned Sean’s age…shockingly…and a more truthful synopsis of the plot.

What Remains Unsaid, with the exceptions of Sean’s scenes, is a powerful tale of tragedy, missed connections and hope.  I want to give it 6 stars, but the flaws (although the great writing overrules most of them) mentioned earlier are why it only gets 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.