Review of HARRIET HATES LEMONADE by Kim McCollum (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This book examines emotional abuse.

Harriet Henderson, 52, lives in Bozeman, Montana. After the death of her husband Les, she continues to live by his rigid rules and judgmental opinions. Her isolated, dreary existence, however, comes to an end when Robyn and Chris Carter and their 12-year-old daughter Audrey move into the neighbourhood. One day Audrey asks Harriet for help because she fears for her mother because of Chris’ violent behaviour. Reluctantly, Harriet steps up and decides to help Robyn find safety for herself and her daughter. When she accompanies Robyn to meetings of a support group for abused women, Harriet begins to re-evaluate her own marriage to Les, a man who’d been controlling and unyielding with lots of rules and consequences and demands.

At the beginning, Harriet is unlikeable. She is adamant that rules are followed; she has frequent clashes with neighbours because she doesn’t hesitate to report people who break the rules of the local homeowners’ association. She lacks social skills and bluntly criticizes others, showing no regard for their feelings. As we learn about her life with Les, we come to understand why she behaves as she does and we feel some sympathy for her. As she starts to reflect on her relationship with Les and to take steps, however tentatively at first, to change her attitude towards and treatment of others, we cannot but cheer for her.

To see the transformation in Harriet is heart-warming, though the narrative arc is predictable. From the beginning I found myself thinking of books like A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. It is not surprising that Harriet reads Elizabeth Strout’s books featuring Olive Kitteridge.

The book offers a lot of information about emotional abuse. I had never heard of the narcissistic cycle of abuse: love bombing, devaluing, discarding, and hoovering. Harriet’s slow realizations about her own marriage emphasize how victims do not always recognize emotional abuse tactics; Harriet, for instance, thinks of abuse only in terms of violent physical behaviour.

The plot is clunky for a number of reasons. Pace, for instance, is uneven. At the beginning, pace is slow. Then there’s a dramatic event, after which the pace quickens considerably. Some changes, like Harriet’s descent into alcoholic states of near unconsciousness, happen so fast as to be unbelievable. Some events seem illogical. Why would Audrey run away from Isla’s? Audrey would show no interest in the trial? Custody hearings can be scheduled virtually overnight? Then there are gaps which affect narrative flow. Characters are mentioned frequently and then are never mentioned again until needed to move the plot. Harriet’s dog is mentioned repeatedly at first and then he virtually disappears for a time. The same is the case for Tammy.

The novel’s examination of emotional abuse is commendable. Harriet’s journey of discovery, about herself and her marriage, is interesting and well developed. It is the later sections that are weaker; narrative structure is clumsy so the overall impression is underwhelming.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.