LOTS OF SPOILERS, I SUPPOSE!!!
Okay I know I'm probably one of a very select few who enjoyed this novella, but hear me out. I interpreted this book in probably a darker kind of manner than most people did.
Leina asks Angelo a lot of questions, but most of them remind me of questions that people ask who are still trying to find a will or reason to continue to go on.
Another thing I grabbed from this was that the garden isn't a real place that we can see in our current state or form, more like a “heaven” of some sort. Which may be why we never actually see the garden and why at the end her mother is calling her home. This also makes me think the garden is like a “heaven”:
“And if I don't come back?”
“I'll understand.” Angelo touched his heart. “I'll pray it's because you found whatever you are looking for.”
__
I say a “heaven” because I'm interpreting that Leina mother committed suicide: “..My mother told me of a garden... she followed it to her grave.”
Which, in turn, would make the book become a curse because it's leading Leina down the same path but from a different kind of pain: “I think you are drawn to the familiar,” Angelo smiled. “As people, we all are. We go to what feels the same. Even if that feeling is pain.”
And lastly I'm assuming that Leina hasn't left her own home in reality. I believe this journey is more of a mental and emotional one than an actual trip to Brazil. I also don't believe Angelo is a real person but more of a spiritual guide that Leina has conjured up as a that last voice to keep her from following the same path as her mother: suicide.
Again I could completely be interpreting this in an absolute wrong way than Tomi Adeyemi intended, but as I've been dealing with my own mental health this is how I interpreted this story and in turn it made me enjoy it very much.
These 25 tales were interesting, especially since there were a lot of stories about women and girls I hadn't heard about. I feel ashamed to have not heard about some of them. I like that it doesn't delve too deep into their lives, just the key points, which leads you to wanting to learn more about them. The illustrations in this book are so beautiful.
OMG!!! This was so much more than I expected. Like I just expected a mother and a daughter going on a road trip and it being all happy with a few twists, but nothing too severe. When I tell you this had so many unexpected twists and I loved them. It's been so long since I've read a book where I couldn't even guess what was gonna happen next. Really glad I was able to get my hands on the ARC thanks to netgalley.
I almost gave this 5 stars but Eva's story just wasn't as interesting to me as Claire's. I found myself reading Eva's chapters a little slower than Claire's. Overall the story was interesting, I guess I was just more intrigued by the woman trying to disappear from her rich, powerful and abusive husband than I was the woman running from a life of drug dealing. I get that both didn't have the biggest hand in the cards dealt to them but I feel Eva had more of a choice to say no than Claire. Either way neither deserved the life the had to live prior to switching of flights.