BOOK REVIEW: Forget You Know Me by @JessicaStrawser @stmartinspress #forgetyouknowme #bookbestiesforgetyouknowme #bookreview

My first experience reading Jessica Strawser, and I can now understand the buzz in the book community over her work! I found Forget You Know Me to be decadent, raw, and emotionally gratifying. This is a book most women will connect with, especially as we transition out of youth and into adulthood. It touches on friendship, love, marriage, finding yourself, and coping with life in the best ways we can. And it has quite a tangled storyline to draw you in! I’m left feeling so fulfilled by this book—something that I don’t always feel leaving a reading experience. The perfect combination of closure and hope!

About the Book

The secrets it exposes threaten to change their lives forever.

Molly and Liza have always been enviably close. Even after Molly married Daniel, the couple considered Liza an honorary family member. But after Liza moved away, things grew more strained than anyone wanted to admit—in the friendship and the marriage.

When Daniel goes away on business, Molly and Liza plan to reconnect with a nice long video chat after the kids are in bed. But then Molly leaves the room to check on a crying child.

What Liza sees next will change everything.

Only one thing is certain: Molly needs her. Liza drives all night to be at Molly’s side—but when she arrives, the reception is icy, leaving Liza baffled and hurt. She knows there’s no denying what she saw.

Or is there?

In disbelief that their friendship could really be over, Liza is unaware she’s about to have a near miss of her own.

And Molly, refusing to deal with what’s happened, won’t turn to Daniel, either.

But none of them can go on pretending. Not after this.

Reflection

I had the benefit of the book besties here, letting me know upfront that Jessica Strawser books are truly women’s fiction, though they often are placed in “mystery and thriller” categories. So going in I expected a fantastic domestic fiction novel with elements of suspense, and that is exactly what this book is. Think Sally Hepworth, for those of you who have read her. Or even Liane Moriarty. I make those comparisons purely in the genre, because I think Jessica Strawser’s voice is incredibly unique, and I don’t like to set readers up to expect a specific writer when they have their own characteristics.

Strawser’s writing style is so fluid and beautiful. I highlighted several passages to go back and read again, because there is a very poetic quality to the way she writes. Even the subtlest of reflections a character has on the weather, for instance, carry so much meaning for the story. This is a book to savor and read slowly. There is so much emotion and history and nuance packed into every single paragraph. Strawser is truly brilliant!

Molly and Liza’s friendship felt so familiar—I think so many women will connect to that storyline. As the book begins, both are trying to reconnect without admitting that’s what they are doing. They’ve lost touch. Molly got married and had kids, and Liza moved to Chicago for a job and is on the dating scene. Though they are a 6 hour drive apart, the emotional distance feels so much longer. They are in such different places, and they’ve lost their connection that they’ve had since childhood. They’ve grown apart, but to acknowledge it might make it real.

Then there is the relationship between Daniel and Molly, a marriage that is built on so much love, but now feels fraught with resentment. Chronic pain experienced for years by Molly, but not properly acknowledged by Daniel. A feeling from Daniel that Molly has slipped away. That she isn’t the person she was when they met. And that maybe, he is partially to blame for this. They both have secrets from each other, and they are too afraid to tell them. But they also love one another so deeply. They want to fight for each other, but they also don’t know how.

Lisa is lost as well, but in a different way. Liza hasn’t lost who she is the way Molly has, but she’s lost her purpose. She’s fighting a battle for something she isn’t even sure she wants. In the same way Molly retreats when she becomes anxious, Liza pushes even harder.

So when Liza and Molly are on their skype call for “girls night”, and Liza witnesses something she was never meant to see, she panics. She calls the police, and tries to call Molly back. But Molly brushes her off. Liza can’t shake the feeling something is wrong. Driving all night, Liza is worried. But when she arrives at Molly’s house, Molly turns her away. Her message is clear—forget what you saw; forget you know me.

I think more than anything this is a book about what goes unsaid. The things we bottle in until they are almost too much to let out. How we let things spiral out of control, and hide them from the world. How we struggle to acknowledge how bad they’ve gotten to ourselves. How sometimes being honest with those you love most is the hardest thing of all. And ultimately, how every burden is so much easier to carry when you finally do share it.

The entire book was so wonderful for me. I think fans of women’s fiction are going to be blown away by this story. It has just enough suspense to keep my mind whirling, but it really is ultimately about the relationships in the book and the characters. And I truly loved every single character! I can’t wait to read more from Jessica Strawser.

Book Besties Approved

I read this with a few of my book besties, and I loved sharing it with them! It was one that we kept to ourselves quite a bit while reading it, but had rich commentary and discussion after finishing. There was so much to love in this book. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for our copies to review. I hope you check out their reviews, and order your copy!

Berit at Audio Killed the Bookmark
Jennifer at Tarheel Reader

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for our copies to review.

Mackenzie