My thoughts
This is a debut novel about a girl gone missing. To me this book could have been so good. It had so much promise. But the author overdid some things. The descriptions were overdone.
There could have been more about the girl who actually went missing. More than what I read at the ending.
It seemed to be more about Bee and her leaking breasts than anything. Yes it happens but in this case it was just used to fill space I believe. Also the parts of her and Leo. What was the point. Yes she had a crush when she was a kid but she was grown, married, with a newborn baby. Not even married that long. To think about Leo that way was in my opinion just too much.
Then the part about her twin brother. She hasn't seen or heard from her twin in seventeen years. I hardly believe that. They were twins. Even with his problems they would have at least talked over the years. With what happened to him there should have been more about what it did to him and maybe then I could have believed he would leave and never talk to his sister again. He talked to his best friend and his mother. But not his twin. I'm not sold on that.
Then the loss of a baby. That was a bit much too. Not the loss but that Bee actually named her baby after one that did not survive. One her mother lost. I just didn't like that part. It could just be me but it just didn't seem to fit. Especially since Bee was not that close to her mother.
This story is told from two timelines, 1987 and 2011. It is told from three perspectives, Bee in 2011. Her mother, Mary, in 1987. And Leo's mother, Diane, in 1987. I was not impressed by either mother. Not even Bee. Bee in my opinion was not a good mother or wife. I actually didn't like any of the characters. None made me feel anything other than anger. No tears or laughter. Just the anger.
Thank you #NetGalley, #ZibbyBooks, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
2.5 stars increased to 3.
There could have been more about the girl who actually went missing. More than what I read at the ending.
It seemed to be more about Bee and her leaking breasts than anything. Yes it happens but in this case it was just used to fill space I believe. Also the parts of her and Leo. What was the point. Yes she had a crush when she was a kid but she was grown, married, with a newborn baby. Not even married that long. To think about Leo that way was in my opinion just too much.
Then the part about her twin brother. She hasn't seen or heard from her twin in seventeen years. I hardly believe that. They were twins. Even with his problems they would have at least talked over the years. With what happened to him there should have been more about what it did to him and maybe then I could have believed he would leave and never talk to his sister again. He talked to his best friend and his mother. But not his twin. I'm not sold on that.
Then the loss of a baby. That was a bit much too. Not the loss but that Bee actually named her baby after one that did not survive. One her mother lost. I just didn't like that part. It could just be me but it just didn't seem to fit. Especially since Bee was not that close to her mother.
This story is told from two timelines, 1987 and 2011. It is told from three perspectives, Bee in 2011. Her mother, Mary, in 1987. And Leo's mother, Diane, in 1987. I was not impressed by either mother. Not even Bee. Bee in my opinion was not a good mother or wife. I actually didn't like any of the characters. None made me feel anything other than anger. No tears or laughter. Just the anger.
Thank you #NetGalley, #ZibbyBooks, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
2.5 stars increased to 3.
About
An overwhelmed new mother becomes obsessed with the unsolved disappearance of a young girl from her small Texas hometown—and unearths her own family’s dark secret.
It’s 2011 and Deecie Jeffries’s missing person’s case in Austin, Texas, is still cold. New mom Bee, struggling with postpartum depression, is living in Portland, Maine, having left Austin–and those memories–far behind. Until Leo, her childhood crush and her estranged twin Gus’s best friend, suddenly resurfaces, drawing Bee back into their shared past.
Bee’s predictable life is upended, pushing her to return to her childhood home and piece together a neighborhood’s shattered history. Bee becomes consumed with a need to uncover the truth about Deecie’s disappearance and what happened to the families who lived across the field from one another—Gus, Leo, and their Mary, a homemaker, whose only escape is the local community theater, and Diana, a serious academic dedicated to her studies.
Told in multiple perspectives with two different timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, obsession, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.
It’s 2011 and Deecie Jeffries’s missing person’s case in Austin, Texas, is still cold. New mom Bee, struggling with postpartum depression, is living in Portland, Maine, having left Austin–and those memories–far behind. Until Leo, her childhood crush and her estranged twin Gus’s best friend, suddenly resurfaces, drawing Bee back into their shared past.
Bee’s predictable life is upended, pushing her to return to her childhood home and piece together a neighborhood’s shattered history. Bee becomes consumed with a need to uncover the truth about Deecie’s disappearance and what happened to the families who lived across the field from one another—Gus, Leo, and their Mary, a homemaker, whose only escape is the local community theater, and Diana, a serious academic dedicated to her studies.
Told in multiple perspectives with two different timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, obsession, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.
Excellent review - too bad it was not good.
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