In The Hero of This Book, author Elizabeth McCracken uses words to paint two vivid portraits. One is of the narrator’s extraordinary mother and the other is of London, a city that sparks a multitude of memories because of the time mother and daughter spent there. Both portraits are so beautifully written that it makes the book a joy to read.
The Hero of This Book takes place in August 2019, described by the author as “the summer before the world stopped”. It’s been 10 months since the mother of the novel’s narrator passed away and three years since their last trip to London. The narrator is never referred to by name, and it’s pretty clear she’s largely based on McCracken herself, and the fictional mother is based on her own mother. But as the author promised her mother that she wouldn’t write about her (and certainly not in a memoir, a literary form her mother hated), she’s used a novel to tell her story. And what a story it is.
In many ways, I think it’s a shame McCracken’s mother won’t ever read The Hero of This Book because, by my reading, it’s a love letter to this larger-than-life character. As the narrator spends a day walking across London, she’s continually reminded of her mother and through those memories, we learn a lot about both the mother and their relationship.
We learn that her mother grew up “disabled and Jewish in small-town Iowa,” yet she was clever, witty, opinionated and “more fun than anyone I knew”. We also learn that both parents were highly educated and worked for years at Boston University, but they were also hoarders who accumulated piles of junk.
For me, the The Hero of This Book got better and better as it went on and more was revealed about its oddball hero. It’s also very funny and has a stack of current London references that were great to read about as it’s my home city. One member of my book club even took herself off to the Millenium Bridge to track down the inclinator. You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out what that is!
Another member of our group said she’d found the narrator’s memories of her mother and the things they did together very relatable. She had read it with great sentiment because it made her think of her own lovely mother who has also passed away. I think when a book can spark responses like this, it’s an indication that it really is something pretty special and it’s well worth investing the time in its 177 pages.
I received The Hero of This Book when I was given a six-month Flight Club subscription from The Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace. The staff choose and send out the books, and based on this book, they clearly know what they are doing. If you’re not lucky enough to be gifted a subscription like this, you could borrow it from your local library, buy it at your local Oxfam shop or from the charity’s online store.
For more book reviews, visit the Books section of my blog.