Stephanie Jane reviewed Gun Love by Jennifer Clement
Sharp prose
4 stars
Despite this novel having been highly recommended by the friend who lent me her copy, I put off reading Gun Love for quite a while because, I think, its title led me to believe the story would have a somewhat different slant. As it turned out, however, Gun Love is neither a pro nor anti-gun novel. It simply witnesses their influence on the lives of a fringe community in a small Florida town.
I loved our narrator, fourteen-year-old Pearl, who is, in some ways, wise beyond her years and, in others, painfully naive. The idea that she had spent her entire life living in a ramshackle car with her mother seemed incredible to me (even though I've spent most of the past four years living in a campervan!). Clement portrays this existence so plausibly though and Pearl's observations on the minutiae of her surroundings made each page wonderfully vivid. I …
Despite this novel having been highly recommended by the friend who lent me her copy, I put off reading Gun Love for quite a while because, I think, its title led me to believe the story would have a somewhat different slant. As it turned out, however, Gun Love is neither a pro nor anti-gun novel. It simply witnesses their influence on the lives of a fringe community in a small Florida town.
I loved our narrator, fourteen-year-old Pearl, who is, in some ways, wise beyond her years and, in others, painfully naive. The idea that she had spent her entire life living in a ramshackle car with her mother seemed incredible to me (even though I've spent most of the past four years living in a campervan!). Clement portrays this existence so plausibly though and Pearl's observations on the minutiae of her surroundings made each page wonderfully vivid. I could feel that extreme Florida humidity! I appreciated how Clement keeps the narrative mostly in the present so, while we are given an outline of how Pearl's mother came to live in her car, the focus of this story is very much on Pearl's coming of age. From a wilful teenager concerned primarily with whether she might be able to steal a cigarette that day, she suddenly has to grow up fast and details of the neighbouring trailer park, which seemed innocuous in early chapters, take on a darker and more threatening significance.
Gun Love is certainly a captivating novel, all the more memorable because I could easily believe in the truths at its heart and that there are genuinely people living in similar situations. The prose is sharp and the fairly large font size in the paperback edition made this feel a fast-paced read. Pearl's story is bitterly poignant, yet not without hope and I'm glad to have finally experienced this acclaimed novel for myself.