Shine Shine Shine - Lydia Netzer

"A week ago, a day ago, with blond waves touching her shoulders and curling around her ears, she would have stopped at the desk, bent over at the waist, arranged another appointment. She would have acquired a different small brown bottle, administered doses, continued to smile and drop off and pick up and accommodate and advance. She would have gone home, would have prompted her gangly husband with the appropriate things to say and do at a cocktail party, dressed him, impressed on him the importance of sticking to the basics. Now, she felt differently about everything. More impatient, more severe. She felt she had been living under clouds, underwater, hearing at low volume, seeing at a distance. Without the wig, what she saw was all very awful. Yes, the whole world. There just wasn't any point in pretending that it was fine."

from Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
St. Martin's Press, 2012

Lydia Netzer's wonderful novel Shine Shine Shine was released this week in paperback - I recently finished reading a hardcover copy from the library, and loved this unique and extraordinary story of Sunny, a (born) bald mother who burns with fierce and complicated love for her astronaut husband Maxon and autistic son Bubber. I adored Sunny's inner conflicts and passion, the choices she makes on behalf of her son, and how, beginning with the striking act of removing the wig she'd adopted in early adulthood, Sunny embarks on a path to rediscovering her family and her truest self. The elements of space exploration and breaking down human emotions and interactions into mathematical equations add a lovely layer of scientific awe and fundamental connection to the workings of the universe.

Recommended reading: Eleven Inequalities to Explain All Human Behavior at Lydia Netzer's blog.

My copy of Shine Shine Shine was from the public library. Happy reading!

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