Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - Landslide by Susan Conley
I received a free review copy from the publisher (Knopf). All opinions are my own.
Susan Conley’s Landslide is a story of a family and their struggles to weather the aftermath of trauma. The narrator is Jill, wife to Kit and mother to “the wolves”—teenagers Charlie and Sam. Kit is a fisherman in Maine who is seriously injured while away on a fishing trip. While he is hospitalized in Canada, Jill tries to navigate life with her boys.
Charlie is the responsible and mature one, often acting like a parent to Sam, who is only a year younger, but seems much younger. Sam is the troubled one, still reeling from a tragedy years earlier that left him unmoored and unstable.
This is a story of trauma and recovery, of strength and vulnerability, and of a family working to navigate these things under difficult circumstances. And this is a story about mental health and how past traumas have a way of resurfacing throughout our lives.
I enjoyed this book’s complex relationships. It feels real—raw and frustrating as Jill deals with Sam’s moods, Kit’s absence, and Charlie’s growing independence.
Jill struggles to know where she’s needed, and if she’s needed.
The setting is a big part of the story; the rough seas, the dreary rain, and the cramped houses all reflecting the turmoil of the family.
Though these struggles and turmoil are not all resolved by the end of the book, it ends on a hopeful note. We can see glimpses of a better future for this family, and those glimpses are what make this book great. Just like life, this story is not tied up into a neat little package. We don’t know if Jill and her family will live happily ever after, but we can see it’s possible.
Landslide was originally published in 2021, and the paperback was released in September 2022. It’s available now!
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