Smoke - Catherine McKenzie

Lake Union Publishing, October 20, 2015.

 

Three Stars

Smoke is the parallel stories of two women whose small town is threatened by a wildfire. Mindy is a wife and mother who has lost herself, and tries to find her purpose by caring for those who have lost their homes in the fire. While Mindy represents domestic life, her former friend Elizabeth is in the thick of the smoke, working the front lines of the fire fight. She takes on a traditionally masculine role in what would otherwise be typical women’s literature.

The wildfire can be seen as a metaphor for the uncontrollable changes in life, which both women face. Elizabeth and her husband are on the brink of divorce, yet the threat of losing their home to fire causes them to rethink what is really important in life. Likewise, Mindy’s children are dealing with the usual adolescent issues, but facing the fire allows them to come together as a family against a larger force.

The conflict that ended the friendship between Mindy and Elizabeth is a mystery that we do not learn until later, and the loss of real friendship causes them both to turn to others – they both wish to help members of their community, but the novel forces us to question how well we can really know anyone else. The side plots involving minor characters were just as intriguing, as background information was slowly revealed.

All of the relationships in Smoke were complex and real, without cut and dry happy endings. The novel explores the way that one person’s actions can affect the whole community, including all the seemingly unimportant decisions that led to that point. The morally ambiguous ending was realistic and true to life. This is ostensibly a book about a natural disaster, but it is really a reminder about the importance and ultimately the strength of human relationships.

I received this book for free from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.