Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsOne night
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 22, 2023
A horrible snowstorm hits and five people are stuck at the library until the storm passes. Over the long night, they each reveal their struggles.
Nora, the librarian, lost her parents at a young age and watched her older brother struggle with addiction. Marlene is an elderly loner who gave up on her drama and feels there's little good left in her world. Jasmine, a new in-town teenager. Lewis, a homeless man. Vlado, the security guard.
I know a Nora, I see my friend in Nora.
“She wasn’t an addict, but she had allowed drugs to define her life as though she were.”
I have heard and watched my friend complain about people being enablers of poor behavior. Yet she is completely blind or in denial of her enablement, frequently not ending well. It's like a spiraling infinity loop that is just as hard to break out of as addiction.
I feel as those there is something muted in Lewis's story. Watching my friend's brother go through his addiction.... paranoia and jitteriness are missing in Lewis's behavior. I often see a roller coaster of emotions in a short period. I feel like when someone is resolved not to do drugs, they are ok, at least at the moment. If they are kept from their choices or drugs, they can get erratic. I felt that was barely touched on. No skin crawling or of how hard it was waiting to get his next dose.
It might seem very unlikely for Marlene to change so quickly over one night. I don't want to give away a spoiler, so I'll say I've seen something similar. It can be possible with the right person, the right timing, and the right perspective impact.
Jasmine and Vlado are the only characters without a first-person POV narrative. I am not sure why that is. I think it was a good choice. It would be too much to have all five POVs.
