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A review by celjla212
In the Mirror by Kaira Rouda
2.0
I've read several "cancer books" before, but in this book I felt like the main character's illness was not the device driving the plot...which is pretty odd because that is what the synopsis made the book seem all about. There are so many extra things going on that you actually get sidetracked when it comes to Jennifer's cancer, and this is where things start to fall apart.
It's so hard to judge books like this for me...well, hard to judge the characters, at least. Who can say what a character with cancer is feeling is right or wrong, if they haven't been there themselves? We see Jennifer, 34 years old, dying of breast cancer at the age of 34. Her husband is raising her 1 and 3 year old children while trying to hold down a law practice. Jennifer is at a facility that seems to be kind of, for lack of a better term, a waiting room for death. Yes, the patients are receiving the newest experimental drugs, but they wouldn't be there doing that if they had any other hope. Jen fluctuates between periods of accepting her impending death, and painfully lamenting the fact that she won't be there to see her children grow up. I would assume this is all normal.
What aggravated me about Jennifer is that she makes exceedingly bad choices. She chooses to keep her mouth shut when her sister hurls insults at her again and again. She chooses to put herself in situations where she is with other men. Maybe, as Jennifer herself mentioned, she needed to feel validated since she wasn't getting that kind of attention from her husband.
SPOILERS BELOW!
The end was OK, and I actually liked that it was open to interpretation. But by the time I finished the book I was way too mad at what had happened to Jennifer to say that I enjoyed the novel overall.
It's so hard to judge books like this for me...well, hard to judge the characters, at least. Who can say what a character with cancer is feeling is right or wrong, if they haven't been there themselves? We see Jennifer, 34 years old, dying of breast cancer at the age of 34. Her husband is raising her 1 and 3 year old children while trying to hold down a law practice. Jennifer is at a facility that seems to be kind of, for lack of a better term, a waiting room for death. Yes, the patients are receiving the newest experimental drugs, but they wouldn't be there doing that if they had any other hope. Jen fluctuates between periods of accepting her impending death, and painfully lamenting the fact that she won't be there to see her children grow up. I would assume this is all normal.
What aggravated me about Jennifer is that she makes exceedingly bad choices. She chooses to keep her mouth shut when her sister hurls insults at her again and again. She chooses to put herself in situations where she is with other men. Maybe, as Jennifer herself mentioned, she needed to feel validated since she wasn't getting that kind of attention from her husband.
SPOILERS BELOW!
Spoiler
What was absolutely NOT OKAY with me was the fact that Jennifer was eventually and somewhat out of nowhere assaulted by an ex boyfriend, and everyone, including her husband, hinted or said to her face that she brought it upon herself. They also did not call any authorities or take a report until like 3 days later. As a matter of fact, everyone thought she was lying. And Jennifer, who either thought she deserved what happened to her or was very out of it after suffering her assault, didn't really speak up for herself. All of this happening in the second part of the book basically ruined it for me.The end was OK, and I actually liked that it was open to interpretation. But by the time I finished the book I was way too mad at what had happened to Jennifer to say that I enjoyed the novel overall.