book review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan
It only seems fitting to write my first book blog post about Mad Honey, as it is the first book that my book club and I reviewed together. I feel like I've read it a bit more critically than other books that I have been reading for leisure, so hopefully I'm a little insightful.
blurb:
"Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.
Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.
And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .
Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him
unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.
Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves."
my thoughts: (contains spoilers)
This one was a bit slow to start for me. I was a little wary of choosing this novel, just because of how popular it is right now (usually booktok steers me wrong) but I had faith in Jodi Picoult.
Now, don't get me wrong- I recognize that this book is full of plot holes that would normally kill my rating. But let's cut the bullsh*t, this book is more than just escapism. For a lot of middle aged women, this might be the first step into the world of trans (LGBTQIA+) rights. Outside of Lily and Olivia's world, I have nothing but praise for Jodi embarking on this task alongside a trans author; Jenny Finney Boylan. I feel like the authenticity in Lily's prose, and the knowledge of transitioning that JFB brought to this story was absolutely necessary for this book being enlightening rather than ignorant.
JP and JFB set us up to think about hard questions, like what does it mean to be a woman? or how would you feel if someone you slept with was trans and you had only found out after the fact? would it matter to you? is laying yourself bare worth the absolute risk of not only rejection, but physical violence if things don't go well? how far would you go to protect your peace and happiness?
If I were Lily, I don't think that I would have outed myself to Asher. I think my instinct for self preservation would have kept me in check more than any guilt from secret keeping. I am a straight, cis-gender woman, and while I can't imagine myself being attracted to a trans man who still had female characteristics, I don't think that sleeping with someone who was AFAB (assigned female at birth) would bother me in the slightest. I'm into men and if you are hot and identify as a man... sounds like you would check all my boxes. However, I don't live in the illusion that everyone is as accepting as I am, I think that there is a lot of internalized transphobia that people in the cis-gender community don't want to talk about. As if we are less straight for being attracted to a trans man/woman.
Taking a step back from the societal context of Mad Honey- I was so pissed at the ending. Throughout the book I honestly thought that Asher could have done it, or maybe even his father or Lily's father. My problem is as follows: first off, I knew Maya was a shady bitch, You could just tell that she was pining away for that boy the entire time so I thought it was too obvious to make this a "I killed her so he could fall in love with me" bit. Second off- how do Maya's actions go unpunished? At one point I read a line in Olivia's POV saying something to the affect of "not all accidents are crimes" which seemed like a complete 180 from the argument against Asher. I mean she literally pushed her down a flight of stairs?? Seems like manslaughter to me...
I'll give this one a solid 7/10, when you see the context surrounding the creation of this book, it makes you want to overlook some of it's roughness in the execution.
thanks for reading w me...
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