Review: Evening

I'm not much of a literary fiction reader but sometimes a title catches my eye and I want to give it a try. Evening by Nessa Rapoport was one of those novels and I ended up enjoying it. Released in fall 2020, the story follows a plot but also focuses on reflecting on choices made in life and what it means to mourn.

Here's the book's description:

In her thirties, Eve is summoned home by her distraught family to mourn the premature death of her sister, Tam, a return that becomes an unexpected encounter with the past. Eve bears the burden of a secret: Two weeks before Tam died, Eve and Tam argued so vehemently that they did not speak again. Her sister was famous, acclaimed for her career as a TV journalist and her devoted marriage. But Tam, too, had a secret, revealed the day after the funeral, one that inverts the story Eve has told herself since their childhood. In the aftermath, Eve is forced to revise her version of her fractured family, her sister’s accomplishments and vaunted marriage, and her own impeded ambition in work and love.
Day by day as the family sits shiva, the stories unfold, illuminating the past​ to shape the present. Evening explores the dissonant love between sisters, the body in longing, the pride we take in sustaining our illusions, and the redemption that is possible only when they are dispelled.

The novel is set in Toronto, a city not so far from my own, but not in the present day. I now can't recall if the exact year was ever divulged but I'd guess it was the late 80s or early 90s.While that doesn't seem like it was that long ago, a lot has changed since that time. By setting the novel in a time other than the present, it added an extra something. I liked that there were no cell phones or laptops or social media during the time the family was sitting shiva together which seemed to allow for a more isolated feeling to the mourning period. 

Normally I love my genre fiction that has a clear beginning, middle, and end (preferably with an expected romantic Happily Ever After) and characters I like (and like reading about) so reading more literary novels is an undertaking for me. I like to expand my reading bubble, though, and I'm glad I did with Rapoport's novel. 

I liked the way the novel was formatted with the book sectioned into days as the family sits shiva. This also helped me feel like the story had a defined structure. At first, I wanted to say that the story was mostly told in "present" day but, upon reflection, there were a number of scenes set in the past that helped illuminate the relationships Eve had with those around her - most importantly, her sister. Even though Tam has died, I was still able to feel like I knew her, through Eve's memories.

I'm not Jewish and am only somewhat familiar with the tradition of sitting shiva. I enjoyed learning a little bit more about it, even though I know the point of the novel isn't to overtly teach the reader.

Grief and relationships between sisters are so well explored in this novel and, even while deeply sad, was beautiful to read. Being one of a pair of sisters means having a unique bond, but one that is common between almost every other pair of sisters. It's hard to explain unless you're in it and I found Rapoport was able to explore that really well, even though the majority of the novel was told from present day when one of the sisters had died. Reading this story made me miss my own younger sister, who's an ocean away, and all I wanted to do is wrap her in a giant hug. 

Evening wasn't a novel I would typically pick up but I'm thankful I chose to read Nessa Rapoport's novel. During a time when the entire world is dealing with various levels of grief, it was interesting and enlightening to read a story where a family is grieving the untimely death of a young woman. I think the way the novel made me feel is going to stick with me for awhile.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, Publishers Group Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*