The Correspondent

I found this book, by Virginia Evans, while looking for something else, and I thought it looked interesting. And I am so glad I got it! It was a very funny and sad book.

It tells the story, through letters, of an old woman who used to be a clerk for a judge, who used to be married, who used to have three children, and who used to see well. She loves to write letters to everyone, mostly to complain about things but sometimes also to thank authors whose books she liked or people who’ve helped her, and to her friends, neighbours, and family, of course. She also exchanges letters with a young man who is having a very difficult life, and with the customer-service representative of a genetic-testing company, because her son gave her one of these at-home test to find where she came from, since she was adopted, but she is not sure she wants to do it.

Some of these letters are pretty funny, but sometimes, she can be blunt and even mean, and through her letters you can start hearing how lonely she is. Sometimes, you can think she is privileged and arrogant, and I think she is both, yes. But there’s more to the story, and little by little, you understand that she’s not had an easy life. It may be easy for young readers to be critical, but I think older readers, and those who know how tough life really is, can understand that it’s not all black or white. I wanted to keep listening to this book all day and all night because there were so many moments of great suspens and expectations! And the narrators were absolutely fabulous, too!

Some reviewers said there were too many characters. I never understand this type of critique. Can’t people handle more than three or four characters in a book? Of course we all have tons of people in our lives, and little by little you get to know who’s who in that woman’s life, the different voices help, and the story is not THAT complicated, for Pete’s sake, people, grow up!

“I have found it to be absolutely astounding, all the trouble living has turned out to be. Things nobody ever warned me about.” Sadly, I concur.