I don’t think that I’ve read anything as raw, gritty, or gut-wrenchingly helpless and emotional as A Handbook for Beautiful People. Featuring Marla, a twenty-two year-old woman who has partial fetal alcohol syndrome thanks to an alcoholic/drug abusing mother who practically abandoned her and her deaf brother to foster care when they were young, as she struggles with two low paying jobs and a slew of friends who just can’t seem to be fully functioning members of society.
Marla works as a waitress and a medical records assistant, and she shares a house with her drug addicted/part-time prostitute roommate Dani. While Dani helps Marla remember to do things like pay the bills and go to work on time–things that Marla struggles with due to her partial FAS–Marla helps Dani in a lot of ways as well. Marla has been dating cello teacher Liam for several months, and when she finds herself pregnant, she doesn’t tell perfectionist Liam right away. Marla is happy about the pregnancy, thinking that she can be the type of mother to the child that she and her brother Gavin did not have, but her dreams are quickly squashed after she tells her foster parents and Liam about the baby. With her deaf brother Gavin visiting for an extended stay, Marla sees that his life isn’t as good as she thought it was since he went off to a special school. He’s isolated and has anger issues, and Dani finds that he can be easily manipulated.
With ideas of adoption, abortion, or raising the child on her own swimming through her head, Marla certainly doesn’t have any more room to deal with unemployment, a burgeoning romance between Dani and Gavin, or especially the breakdown of her relationship with the father of her baby.
Jennifer Spruit did a fantastic job writing terribly flawed characters that I just couldn’t stop reading about. Every character made mistakes and stepped right on to the brink where they could see where they were heading. Sometimes they stepped over the line, but sometimes they realized that they should take a step back. A Handbook for Beautiful People highlighted two disabilities that you don’t really see written about much these days, and these characters where delved into with emotion, depth, and immense thoughtfulness that left me with a realistic sense of these players as actual people.
I give A HANDBOOK FOR BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE a four out of five. While none of the characters are likeable all the time, they all do have their redeeming moments–and those moments make them shine when contrasted with their realistic, gritty, low points. It took me about 30 pages in before I started warming up to the characters, especially since they were all so grey–but I loved that none of them were perfectly good. This made for a fantastic read where everything is hopeless, but people find a way–always.
Find A HANDBOOK FOR BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
Amazon |Inanna Publications | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
About Jennifer Spruit
Jennifer Spruit was born in Lloydminster, AB/SK, and now lives in Courtenay, BC. She attended the Creative Writing MFA program at the University of British Columbia. Jennifer enjoys teaching kids, playing music, and paddling a blue canoe. This is her first novel.
Find out more about Jennifer at her website.
Connect with Jennifer Spruit
Website | Goodreads
Jennifer Spruit’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS for A HANDBOOK FOR BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE:
Monday, May 21st: Comfy Reading
Monday, May 21st: A Bookish Way of Life
Thursday, May 24th: Instagram: @ladyofthelibrary
Friday, June 1st: Instagram: @prose_and_palate
Monday, June 4th: A Chick Who Reads
Monday, June 4th: Lit and Life
Wednesday, June 6th: Instagram: @quietmountainreader
Friday, June 8th: Openly Bookish
Monday, June 11th: Thoughts On This ‘n That
Tuesday, June 12th: 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews
Wednesday, June 13th: The Desert Bibliophile
Friday, June 15th: From the TBR Pile
Monday, June 18th: Bewitched Bookworms
Wednesday, June 20th: Instagram: @booenetics
Monday, June 25th: Eliot’s Eats
TBD: Peppermint PhD
TBD: Wining Wife
TBD: Tina Says…
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Books like this are so hard to read for me, but at the same time I love seeing perseverance that runs throughout certain characters – like you say, “people find a way – always.”
Thanks for being a part of the tour!
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This was a hard read at times, but it was definitely worth it.
Heather recently posted..A Handbook for Beautiful People by Jennifer Spruit – #TLCBookTours Review
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Hi Heather,
thanks for the wonderful review. Its obvious you put a lot of energy into it. I love the first sentence. Thank you for getting to know this often frustrating characters who are hemmed in by their individual limitations, be it Gavins’s deafness and resulting isolation or Marla’s FAS careening her around.
I would really appreciate it if you could post this customer review on https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Beautiful-People-Jennifer-Spruit/dp/177133441X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
as well.
Thanks again!
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Done, Jennifer! I really enjoyed your book. I posted it on Goodreads as well.
Heather recently posted..A Handbook for Beautiful People by Jennifer Spruit – #TLCBookTours Review
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