Walking with Her Daughter, book review

I will read just about anything by Jessica Barksdale Inclan, for two reasons: one, because she writes beautifully; two, because the first time I read an Inclan novel, it mesmerized me. One Small Thing captured the heartache of infertility, a subject I know intimately, in a way I’ve never encountered before or since. It makes me hope that every novel she writes will likewise resonate within my soul.

Walking with Her Daughter was Inclan’s 2005 offering. In it, we find Jenna Thomas reeling with grief after the life of her 20-year-old daughter is tragically cut short by a terrorist’s bomb in Bali. As Jenna comes to terms with her shattering loss, she also struggles to make sense of her relationship with her ex-husband, as well as with her younger colleague with whom she has a budding romance. In the midst of this, Jenna makes a discovery that tips everything up on end, and forces her to confront what it means to embrace new life.

Though as flawlessly written as anything she’s done, I did not like this novel. I did admire Inclan’s unparalleled skill as a writer – subtly twisting the plot, drawing unique characters in infinite detail, getting beneath their skins and inside their heads. But about halfway through, I found myself skimming pages (not a good sign) in a hurry to reach the end, not because I was eager to reach the conclusion, but because I wanted to be done with Jenna. As a protagonist, I didn’t enjoy her. Not because her story began with horrific, unimaginable tragedy; so did the heroine of Blue Water by A. Manette Ansay, which I loved. No, the reason I didn’t want to spend time with Jenna was because her choices were repellent to me: habitually sleeping with her ex, drowning her grief in sex with her colleague, debating abortion until she’s assured by extensive prenatal testing that she carries a healthy child… I’m sorry, but yuck. Jenna's unpalatable moral character colored everything she did. And because of this, though the story ended on a hopeful note, it still left me with a bad taste in my mouth.