[MPOV] Exit Wounds

My rating: 4/5

Goodreads rating: 4.67/5
Published: September 6th, 2022
Author: Annie O'Neill Stein
Genre: general fiction

Born to shanty Irish on one side and Park Avenue privilege on the other, Laura navigates a turbulent childhood filled with the alcohol-fueled abuse of her volatile father and her mother’s excessive drinking. As the middle child of three girls, she assigns herself the role of her mother's protector, who dies when Laura is thirteen, leaving her heartbroken and adrift.

Insecure, anxious, and fearful, she tries drugs, random sex, and a sequence of lovers. Along the way, she becomes a successful painter and has a bad first marriage. Nothing, however, seems to assuage her emptiness and her sense of loss. Eventually, she marries a caring man and has a loving daughter. It is only at the end of her life, and by way of an unusual and unexpected turn of events that she is finally able to make peace with herself, to let go of the feeling that she never really grieved, and said goodbye to her beloved mother, and to appreciate that though we work at love and acceptance, sometimes the most wonderful experiences in our lives come in unanticipated and unsought ways.

This novel so reminds me of Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance and Kathryn Harvey's Butterfly. It's a story about a girl, Laura, growing up in a shabby environment and eventually becoming a successful woman with a loving family of her own. Her suffering, her endurance and her choices in life were told in her own point of view. It sure is empowering and enlightening of the events that occurred in her life. The way Laura handled or mishandled it and the consequences that she has to accept is so heart wrenching at times. 

I am amazed at how realistic the events that happened in Laura's life, especially when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, leading to her death. It sure seemed as though it is the author's biography but fictionalized. The little details, the grief and loss all felt as though the author has experienced it first-hand. If you are looking for some heroine drama to read, this is definitely the right pick.

Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this lovely e-ARC. I have enjoyed reading Laura's journey. It is devastating to know that the author, Annie O'Neill Stein, has just passed away before the release of her debut novel. May her soul rest in peace.