The Things We Keep (Sally Hepworth)

Why I have this book: I tend to really love Sally's books, so I bought this one not too long ago when it was on sale for about $2.00.

I liked this one to the tune of three stars on Goodreads. It had such an interesting premise, and the story kept me involved. It gave me things to think about, especially how aging and diminished mental capacity affects people, and how important it is to focus on the people and not just what they are capable of as their minds begin to fail. That's a part of the story that really touched me. I also appreciated the contrast of kindness vs cruelty that we humans tend to show one another. It should go without saying that kindness is so much better.

I just finished this last night, and I'm trying to remember why I decided on three stars instead of four... 

I didn't love the parts that came from the perspective of the 7-year-old character. I didn't feel like it added much to the story.

I felt like Eve's story and character were the most developed, although I can see how it would have been difficult to develop Anna's perspective very well considering her loss of words and thought. Still, it was done well enough for me to feel a lot of compassion for her experience.

There could have been a bit more editing to clean up the writing, and once again, the book was obviously written from a UK/Australian setting or writer (I believe Sally is Australian), then placed in a US setting. Even though one of the main characters was British, there were still too many "British'isms" (or Australia'isms) to believe it was set in America. If it was originally published in Australia or GB, then just leave the setting there, please. It's totally fine. We Americans can adapt.

There was some swearing, including the F-word. There was also some sex outside of marriage, but nothing descriptive. The storyline does deal with suicide.