First Impressions Review: Hood, by Emma Donoghue


 

This is a beautiful book.
I was worried when starting it that it would be too overwhelmingly sad, since it is about a woman in 1990s Ireland grieving the loss of the girlfriend she could never publicly acknowledge. However, while this IS a story about grief and loss - and the complicated emotions that come with loving a difficult person - it is also frequently funny. The flashbacks also get quite spicy at times, though the melancholy of the present timeline is apt to dampen the titillation for the reader as well as for Pen.

Penelope is an apt name for the main character, an introverted homebody who has spent 13 years hoping the beautiful, flighty, not-so-monogamous Cara will someday choose her alone. Of course, as members of the Amazon Attic collective that Cara often hung out with point out, Cara did love her: she invited Pen to move into her family home*, talked her up every chance she got, and always did come back as if tethered on a string. Conversely, when Pen finally talks to Cara's last fling:
"'Didn't you find her mystical?'...'Irresistible? Enduringly, erotically fascinating?' 'Nope.' 'Oh well, I must be the only one one then.' 'Afraid so...With all due respect, Pen, the woman was a nutcase.'"
Pen has some secrets of her own, of course.

*Where they've been living for four years, Pen for some reason assuming Cara's dad STILL doesn't know!

Pen is rather isolated at the start, having been living as if Cara is the only person she'd ever need in her life. So it is heartwarming as the story goes on to see her make connections with others and finally be able to cry. Robbie, a fellow teacher at the local Catholic school, wins the award for lovable "eejit":
"'So she knew all along?' I paused, the coffee at my lips, and stared at him. 'What, that she was a lesbian?'... 'Hang on a minute. You're telling me you've been having a thirteen-year affair with your housemate's father, and that she's a lesbian? Was,' he corrected himself automatically, then winced. I lifted a raspberry tart, concentrating on biting it neatly to stop myself from laughing. 'Let's take it from the top,' I mumbled."

The only thing I might complain of in this book is the tint of bi erasure. Pen is super-extra-bitter over Cara's liasons with men, and the other definitely-100%-a-lesbian character is a bit dismissive of a housemate who does the same, both clearly making the assumption that these women are temporarily pretending to be straight. And, yes, comphet is strong enough that some women who really are only attracted to other women will try to date men, at least for a while (in fact, the second character once got married before deciding that was a terrible idea). But some people really are attracted to more than one gender, and it is super annoying and invalidating to have both straight and gay people assume that that's not real! However, this tendency only shows up in like 3 paragraphs, they aren't presented as definitely being correct, and Pen in particular has been doing a lot of mental lashing-out because of her grief, so it didn't make me not like the book.

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