The Correspondent
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READ THIS BOOK!
Hands down, this is my favorite book that I’ve read in the past year. And that’s telling, given how much I loved Atmosphere.
The Correspondent consists exclusively of letters. This is very cool and very well done. It centers around a 73-year-old woman named Sybil Van Antwerp. She can be curmudgeony and uptight, speaking her mind in a way that often comes across as pretentious. Yet, she’s also incredibly smart, thoughtful, loyal, and capable of evolving. Most of all, she is dedicated to her letter writing, and she values the permanence of putting pen to paper. I was very impressed with the author’s ability to progress the plot through letters alone. Through her correspondence, we see Sybil transform as a person, coping with a family tragedy that has marred her for decades and finding new ways to move forward into her 80s. She is a flawed person whom I didn’t always root for, but that’s showbiz, baby. Her arc reminded me of Eleanor’s in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
And while I’m dropping book references myself, I love that The Correspondent makes so many contemporary references. Sybil writes to authors directly and writes to her friends about what books she’s reading. She even has a pen-pal relationship with Joan Didion! Look at me getting all excited about something that’s not real. The nuggets of reality (real books, real people, real places- some UVA references!) add vividness to the story that extends beyond the book itself. I wrote down the books that Sybil liked so that I could check them out myself; for example, she’s a big Ann Patchett fan, so I got Tom Lake. It’s this fun literary web that makes me feel like I’m Sybil’s friend, which perhaps says something about my mental health or lack thereof.
Overall, yes, the innovative format is exciting, but this book is not for the faint of heart. It makes you reflect on the meaning of legacy– how important it is for you to leave something behind and what that ‘leaving behind’ even looks like on a practical level. It makes you sit in Sybil’s parenting regrets, uncomfortably navigating her mistakes that are both deeply human and deeply shameful. It makes you analyze late-in-life romantic partnerships and what to value when your own body is failing you. It’s heavy, and it’s heartwarming, and it’s gotta be read, so get to reading. The Correspondent receives 5 out of 5 flames.
