Well hey there addictive-can’t-put-ya-down-these-characters-are-so-captivating book! Yowzers, I loved Sunburn by Lauren Lippman so much.
This book is really easy to slip in to and just never stop reading. Not normally something I would pick up on my own, it was listed as Roxane Gay’s favorite book of 2018, so I tried it out and was blown away.
Two characters falling in love with one another, both with secrets that may cause the other person to not fall in love with the other + both with motivations that make you as the reader wonder when and where the curve ball is going to come from.
One of my favorite parts of the book is it jumps around from time-to-time to different characters. We all know that we all perceive events and peoples a little differently, bringing our own contexts and biases with us to every situation, and Lippman does such a good job of getting into the heads of her characters, that as a result you see how everyone sees reality slightly different—bringing to question how even the characters see themselves. It was masterful, and I love the shifting ground I was standing on as I was reading Sunburn.
The setting was also beautiful. Not in like an actual beautiful sense, but in the sense was it felt so stinking real. Gosh, I spend so much time thinking about Polly’s apartment- the care that went into it and the life she was setting up for herself and trying to design. The town of Belleville was so tangible and tragic. This book was so tragic. UGH.
If you haven’t noticed, this is a book I hands-down suggest you pick up… especially if you live in the midwest are in the midst of a polar vortex! It has an uncomfortable heat to it and the absorption that will get your mind off the snow.
Jenny Likes Books 