The Accidentals
When this book began with an illegal abortion in Mississippi in 1957, I had some trepidation, thinking this was a familiar story. I was so very wrong. This story is nothing like I thought it would be. It spans from 1957 to the eve of Barack Obama’s first election in 2008. Yes, the death of Olivia McAlister from a botched abortion has a ripple effect on her husband and two daughters, Grace and June, but each character’s path takes unpredictable turns.
One of the strengths of the book is multiple narrators. Chapters alternate among each girl, their father, their aunt, and even a cameo from an ambulance driver. Each chapter is a vignette in itself, and Grace, June, and their father, as well as other supporting characters, change from one chapter to the next but in recognizable ways. The girls’ mother felt miserable and trapped by another pregnancy in small-town Opelika in the 1950s. Although her daughters have similar challenges, changing times and opportunities mean different outcomes for them. Concluding the book in the recent present is a reminder that illegal abortions and the first African-American president happened within the same generation. Another reason I loved this book was how real the sisters’ relationship felt. They cling to each other after their mother’s death, and fall out over a betrayal, but come together again.
Nothing makes me happier than to be surprised by a good book, and I’m still thinking how surprised I was by this one.
