So excited to get back to writing. I have been reading a lot. A book I recently read immersed me the world of literary fiction. Here in this blog post, I felt compelled to write. First, I provide a small definition of what literary fiction is, followed by my reflections about what I liked about the book, and I also provide some links that you can search up if you are interested in reading this book, or just curious about the writing style.
I recently read a wonderful literary fiction, We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet, the author’s debut novel, and thought of sharing these reflections with you. Before I go into discussing my reflections, I want to digress a little bit into what is literary fiction. So, literary fiction or lit-fic, is a style of writing. Nowadays, though, some publishing houses are calling it a genre, I do not believe it’s a genre, but it’s definitely a style of writing.
What sets this writing style apart is that the lit fic books are character and setting driven, or character and context driven, rather than plot driven. Due to the writing style, literary fiction contains rich descriptions of the setting, environment, and the character’s internal reflections. For beginners, the prose may feel dense, heavy, slow or even uneventful.
Returning to the book at hand, We Must be Brave centers on a mother-daughter relationship. The story is told from the perspective of the protagonist, Ellen Parr, the mother in this case. It’s an enjoyable novel, though beginner readers should probably stay away from it, simply because it’s heavy on the reflections, and consequently feels slow. Literary fictons by their nature is NOT plot driven, so this isn't a book with a mysterious twist or some fanciful happening, rather, it's a slow development of the protagonist, thus staying true to the nature of writing style.
I do wish the author had shared more of the daughter's or daughters' perspectives to match that of the protagonist's, it would have made for a more reflective reading.
However, it was an enjoyable read!
If you want to read a vivid retelling of rural England, beginning December 1940 and ending in 2010, do pick this book up.
Where to buy this book?
Amazon Link: We Must Be Brave
Half Price Books: We Must Be Brave
