Two Lives?
Today I'm delighted to feature Abbigail Rosewood's If I had two Lives on my blog. I read it recently and loved it: MY REVIEW OF IF I HAD TWO LIVES: The protagonist narrator of Abbigail Rosewood’s If I had two Lives hides behind other people’s emotions like a child hiding behind her mother’s skirt. But this child, growing up in a Vietnamese military camp, gets little support from her mother and latches onto another lonely girl for guidance and companionship instead. The first part of the novel gives an evocative portrayal of postwar Vietnamese life and trials through the eyes of a child. In a world of men, two girls are vulnerable. And in a world of separation, attachment is both danger and treasure. The protagonist loses focus, mirrored by shifts in the story, as the second part of the novel begins in a not-overly welcoming America. But she finds another lonely girl – lonely adult now – and begins to fill her life again with stories. Except that adult stories hav...