REVIEW || ‘Darling Rose Gold’ by Stephanie Wrobel
“That’s what separates the sane from the not: knowing madness is an option but declining to choose it.”
—Stephanie Wrobel
★★★.5
3.5/5 Stars
Holy dysfunctional and damaged and broken and conniving and twisted, Batman. I'm so torn on how I feel about this book right now. Did parts of it make me want to sink down in my shirt, hide away in cringeworthy horror and shower after I finished it? Yes, yes they did. But did I also obsess over it every second until I finished? 1000x yes.
It's one of those reads where you almost feel guilty for loving it and enjoying it so much because the subject matter is dark, every character is super flawed and hard to root for, and it highlights retribution and revenge for a cathartic cleanse. But that being said, I did love it. I loved the writing. I loved the imagery. I loved the insight into the psychological breakdown of both minds. You're not just seeing the story from one side or another - you're given a front-row seat into the minds of both the abuser and the victim, and the character representing each of those tropes shifts throughout the book. You don't know who to root for, and once it's over, you'll have trouble figuring out which way is 'up.'
PLOT SPOT
For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.
Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.
After serving five years in prison, Patty begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes. And Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling...
And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home.
WINS
-alternating viewpoints between mother/daughter; great insight into both sides and phenomenal job at crafting the language for each character [inner dialogue was completely different for mother/daughter in terms of vocabulary, sentence structure, confidence, optimism/pessimism, etc.]
-it makes you think about how you'd react in this situation; I questioned so many things I thought I knew about myself and my personality. I honestly don't know what I would've done in Rose Gold's shoes.
-Rose Gold [finding inner confidence in her appearance and wearing/carrying her scars proudly (hide spoiler)]
-hella beautiful cover; might be my favorite on my bookshelf
LOSSES
-lots of heavy, heavy content [[abuse, trauma, poisoning, unhealthy family dynamics, suicide] (hide spoiler)]; key to the story, but the reader never gets a break from it
-a few details left unexplained [[eyes in the window specifically] (hide spoiler)]
-ending felt super rushed where other chapters provided extensive detail
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I loved it. I'm telling my sisters about it and passing it on to them. If you can get past the triggering aspects of the book, it's a very enjoyable read that'll leave you thinking for days to come.
FOR FANS OF
