Saturday Review: “Tripping on the Twelve Steps” a review by Sharon Colley of Bewilderness by Karen Tucker (2021) in NCLR Online Winter 2024
About this debut novel, Colley writes, “While not for the faint-hearted or easily susceptible, Bewilderness is a rewarding story of heartbreak, addiction, mourning, and hope.” The story of two friends, Irene and Luce, deals with their attempts at life in a rural, run-down small NC town.
“Arguably, though, addiction is not the heart of the story; the complicated relationship between Irene and Luce forms its centerpiece.” Colley highlights not only the main characters’ friendship but also other relationships, both blood and chosen. Drug use, of course, affects them all. “As readers, we feel the passionate attachment of Irene to the central friend in her life, even as we see they are not always good to or for each other.”
Read the entire review in the Online Winter 2024 issue out now! And order the book from Bookshop.org.
