Weather

WEATHER

by Jenny Offill

 

Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2021, Women’s Prize Finalist 2020

 

Date Read: April 26, 2023

 

Weather isn’t so much a novel as a series of vignettes that fit together to form a narrative about a woman struggling with career, marriage, motherhood and a brother who is struggling with addiction. Lizzie is intelligent, observant and most definitely not a librarian, a job for which she is grateful but is judged by her coworkers because she doesn’t have a degree in library science. Being less immersed in the library world than her peers, she is an amateur psychologist, delving into people’s psyches in her spare time.

 

In addition to her husband and son, Lizzie’s brother, Henry, is a recovering drug addict. He has recently fallen in love with Katherine and after losing his own apartment, they move in together. After heading down the road of matrimony and parenthood, Henry begins to overreact to the pressures of fatherhood and begins using again to alleviate his suffering. When his life inevitably implodes, he moves in with his sister and her family.

 

Having Henry in her home puts pressure on her own family. The relationship with her husband seemed distant and possibly unfulfilled? She clearly respects him as a person but the romance seems to be flagging there. When her husband and son go on a trip without her, she flirts and almost has an affair with a guy that rides her bus. Although her friends encourage her to have a meaningless fling (who are these friends?), Lizzie stays true to her marriage.

 

Much of the book is centered on surviving the melt down of the planet. Lizzie goes down rabbit holes of survivalist preparation and bracing for the end of the world. The environment, and hence the weather, play an integral role in her fears about the pending doom. I can’t disagree with her, though. It all seems pretty hopeless when you look at it in detail and can’t seem to look away.

 

I loved this book. Some readers seemed to have a difficult time with its aimlessness and distinctive format. I really enjoyed how unique her writing style is and the existential dread brought to us in bite-size pieces. 

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