Marilou is Everywhere

This book wasn’t what I expected; based on the synopsis it sounded like a mystery and I semi expected a small amount of thriller-type action. Instead it was an emotional character driven story about Cindy, who quite literally fills the place of Jude (nicknamed Marilou) after she goes missing.

I liked the writing and short chapters which made it a quicker read. There was some decent character development as well. The observations on class divides and racism was interesting as one of the main plot points of the book is that as a biracial young girl, Jude missing isn’t a big concern for the police or community compared to if she were white. This is taken from Sarah Elaine Smith's website, and I think it does an amazing job of explaining how race underpins the story: "it is about the harm of whiteness, and the way white women and girls can disappear into their trauma instead of seeing the ways their actions cause harm.”

I kept going waiting for something to happen, a big revelation or exciting climax, but almost nothing does which was disappointing. It had a weird ending that left me saying “what just happened?!”