Review: Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved reading this book. It was a wild ride experience. It is one of the most well-written books that I have read in some time.

Jean Swinney is a reporter who is contacted by Gretchen Tilbury who claims her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. We follow Swinney as she investigates the story for her job and gets into deeper relationships with the Tilburys.

The vibe of small pleasures is everyday life juxtaposed with investigating an out-of-the-ordinary miracle. I love how Swinney's columns on gardening tips, her chores, and recipes are peppered in between crazy discoveries. I also like how the everyday relationships are in turn impacted by each of these discoveries. Love the way it is written.

Jean Swinney's character is so much fun to follow, she is real, sometimes witty, and also genuinely nice. I like the writing. The way we discover more about the hospital, the friends, and Gretchen through Swinney's investigation. The way it unwraps is fun to follow.

The Mother-daughter dynamic between Jean and her mother is so well done, I loved every second of it. The dichotomy of their feelings, the conflicts, the banter, and Jean's patience, are reflective of real relationships.

I like Gretchen's character. I also like that as we discover more and also get to know her more, the book switches from representing her as this perfect angelic person to a normal human. I was thoroughly invested in all of the relationships.

Finally, I felt the discomfort and the burden of the truth that Jean felt in the last few chapters, it hadn't just been passed onto her but also to the reader.

BUT what happened to the ending? It was completely out of nowhere and was unnecessary to the plot. The whole vibe was thrown off. It seemed like a scene put in for unnecessary shock value. At beginning of the last chapter, I was a little excited about the changed character perspective, I was excited about insight into this character's internal monologue. I am going to ignore the explanation in the Afterword and pretend it ended with the last sentence before it.

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