Kim Lockhart's Reviews > Red at the Bone

I was mesmerized by the way the author poured out the lives of her characters in a steady stream of skillful prose.

One major theme of the novel is generational trauma, and the way it pervades and perfuses the lives of descendants, like ink spilled across a page. Yet, bright pain stands next to beauty, love, and even sporadic splashes of joy. The story also explores different kinds of severing, and the scars they leave behind. The concepts of losing, transcending, rebuilding, and reclaiming, are even larger elements, creating the structure upon which the entire narrative rests.

The characters choose whether to make space for each other, and whether to step into a space, even if that means remaking themselves. 

It's a poignant story, with just the right amount of pathos to hit the right note.