Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce- Book Review

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you had a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa celebration too. I had an wonderful Christmas where I was presented with piles of books from my wife, from a secret Santa on Litsy, and from a bi-annual trip to The Strand Bookstore in NYC. While on vacation, I did a lot of reading as I finished off the year with a personal record of reading 252 books for the year! My previous record was 160, so this was a big year.

One of the reasons for the big year was because I started a Book of the Month Club Subscription. If you would like to join, simply click the link and you get a free tote and 3 $9.99 months to Book of the Month, enjoy!

Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce was one of my final Book of the Month selections for the year and I have been waiting for this book for almost half a year since first hearing about it. I could not get an ARC, but when I saw I could get it early from BoTM, I jumped at the chance. I am so glad I did too.

The book begins with a child murdering another child. Chizuru Akitani is the daughter of a famous musician and is half Japanese and half American. Living in Japan, Chizuru grabs a letter opener and stabs another child in the neck, ultimately killing him. This simply did not happen in Japan. She is forced to live in a government home where her father never visits her until she is allowed to leave the country. She moves to the US to start a new life as Rio.

Rio, has a family, a comfortable life, but is closed off about her past to her husband. She has told him stories, but never the truth about who she was. When a package arrives for Rio stating her father has died, she goes to Japan to attend the funeral. There she runs into her childhood teacher and begins a pilgrimage of self discovery.

This is just the first quarter of the book, mind you.

The book begins with a strong open that just sucks you in. During the pilgrimage, it drags a bit, but there is a purpose to that. The ending closes quite well with lots of ambiguity much as a peek into a life will do.

There is great use of what is real vs what is fake. From Rio's life that she created to who she really is to commentary about Japanese culture and what lies behind the customs there. The cover art does a great job of portraying what this book really is about. The book has lots of layers about what truth is. Is truth what you create it to be or is there a real truth out there? What happens when one searches and there really isn't an answer either.

I simply loved this book and it is one that I know I will re-read. Luce does such a great job that I wanted to go back into her past catalog and see what else she has written. Turns out this is her first full novel (she has a book of short stories), but boy does it hit well. I am eager to see what comes next. She has talent and it shows.

I really recommend this one, don't let the grayish cover dissuade you. I gave this one 4 stars bordering on 4.5 stars.

Here is your Book of the Month link-
Pull Me Under By Kelly Luce