Gun Love
by Jennifer Clement
4 stars
Jennifer Clement’s latest novel is short and sweet with a little bitter on the side. Pearl, our heroine, is a teenager who’s spent her life living in a 1994 Mercury Topaz with her mom in the visitor parking lot of a small trailer park in no-where Florida. Pearl is just fine with the close and loving relationship she has with her mom, a mom who spins tales about their lives and the world beyond. Pearl does not want for anything. But her mother does. Eli is a stranger who comes to the trailer park to help run guns. He takes over Pearl’s mom’s thoughts and actions. Eli’s “gun love” leads to Pearl’s mom’s downfall, and Pearl finds herself alone in a world that revolves around guns.
Clement’s writing style is beautiful and lyrical…perfect for this coming of age story. I thought the book would be more controversial given its title, but I found the story to be so personal that one could read this book without thinking it’s anti-2nd amendment as a whole.
Read-alikes
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
Solemn by Kalisha Buckhanon
