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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In Kimberly Wenzler’s Letting Go, after Lucy Buchanan dies, her husband Max raises their son Sammy while attempting to resume his writing career. Lucy narrates as a silent witness to their daily routines, observing as Sammy insists she still visits him, and Max questions how to respond. When academic concerns and playground intimidation begin to affect Sammy, Max forms a careful connection with his son’s teacher, Melanie Tripp. At the same time, longtime friend Hope Davis becomes an emotional anchor during upheaval in her own marriage. Across the street, neighbor Benjamin Rothman carries a private burden that links him to the past and to dangerous obligations that refuse to let go. As grief reshapes each household, the living move toward decisions that will determine how memories and responsibilities coexist.
Kimberly Wenzler’s Letting Go is an absolutely beautiful tribute to the act of release when a family is affected by a loved one's absence, with Wenzler deftly leaning into a gradual surrender on both sides of the veil. Lucy offers a first-person perspective and is an omniscient spectator, watching her husband and son in moments of both sorrow and brief happiness, like a visit to Lucy’s headstone, where Sammy traces the carved letters of his mother’s name, and a Vermont ski trip, where her family moves across the bright slopes in an atmosphere that feels lighter and happier. With the restrained hand of a skilled writer and by way of silky prose, Wenzler slowly sheds light on how Lucy died and what is and is not known to anyone except her and one other ancillary character. Readers who are drawn to intimate, domestic literary fiction with a touch of the spiritually supernatural will relish this book, as I did. Very highly recommended.
