Book Review – Chasing The Stars

Original title: Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles
First published: 2018
Author: Virginie Grimaldi
Language: French
Genre: Domestic Fiction
My rating: 3.5/5

A compelling story that has good characters! Hard to put down!

Anna is a single mum of two teenage daughters, who she barely sees because of her heavy workload. Despite working more hours than she can cope with, she is struggling to make ends meet. She is constantly dodging the bailiffs’ calls.
Chloé is seventeen years old and hypersensitive. She is desperate for boys’ affection, but her love affairs never seem to last. She has big dreams but is ready to give them all up to help her mother.
Lily, twelve, doesn’t particularly like people and has a hard time fitting in at school. She is much more attached to her pet rat, which she named after her father because he jumped ship.
All three women aren’t particularly in a good place, but when Anna realizes how unhappy her daughters are, she borrows her parents’ campervan and takes her daughters on a journey to the Northern most point of Norway. She can’t turn back time, but the future is still unwritten.

The book is written from all three character’ point of view. Anna narrates the story most, but we get an insight into what her daughters are felling through Chloé’s heartfelt anonymous blog posts, and Lily’s diary entries.

I found that I could identify with lots their personal woes. Lots of Chloé’s and Lily’s soul- searching I could relate too, as I remember similar feeling when I was their age.

However, I found it hard to relate to Anna. She suffers from anxiety and takes a huge leap of faith in taking her daughters into the unknown, but I felt that her character was somewhat forced and heavy-handed.

The family went away almost strangers and came back stronger than ever, but I feel on a personal note, each character development could have been pushed a little more.

I would call in a holiday read. Something that is easy to read and very enjoyable. It does try to delve into more serious subjects (domestic violence, the loss of a parent, autism, dept, mental health…) but I feel the author could have expanded more on certain subjects.