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Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite
Ours by Laciann Delacroix is a literary, deliberately fragmentary work of fiction about the relationship between Rui, the narrator, and Franco, a salesman she meets online. Rui is an equestrian and a hyper-observant designer who captures experience through sensory details of touch, taste, and smell. Franco is the kind of person whose presence translates into the “almost love” experience; he is warm but remains emotionally unavailable, still caught up in grief and coming short of meeting Rui’s depth. Franco is fascinated by Rui’s presence but is unable to penetrate the vast richness of her interior beauty. What can she do to draw him closer?
There is a lot to share about Ours, but I will focus on some of the lessons in the story. Rui’s awakening, thanks to advice from her friend and muse, Elian, is accompanied by an understanding that she can “lead the rhythm” by setting her own pace instead of following someone else’s and that she doesn’t have to shrink to accommodate someone she loves. Stylistically, Laciann Delacroix uses a minimalist prose filled with ellipses that capture the shifts in the characters’ consciousness. The author effectively uses symbolism to elevate the writing, and one that cleverly speaks about love is the potted rose that requires “light, water, patience.” The fragmentary structure of the writing reflects the erratic nature of online intimacy, characterized by missed calls, the illusion of being close to each other while being separated by distance, and unread chapters. This book is a meditation on self-possession, and readers are left with the resounding message that boundaries are acts of creation and not rejection.
