The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn JacksonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Fans of Someone Else’s Love Story will welcome Jackson’s newest novel, in which a minor character gets the opportunity to tell her own story. Paula (the best friend of SELS’ William) is a sharp and successful Atlanta divorce lawyer who knows exactly where she’s going…but her past is about to catch up with her. The woman who had to learn to take care of herself early in life finds that she might just have more of a family than she thought.
Jackson is a master of language, using long and luxurious sentences that are truly poetic to describe character and setting, but always with a snappy sense of humor. She arranges otherwise ordinary words into an intricately weaved story with a slow reveal that will make the reader want more. Paula is complex, scarred. Flashbacks expose a difficult relationship with her mother that began with the folktales Kai told her as a child and is now unfolding into a new understanding of family. In many ways, the South is a character itself, described as only a true Southerner could, and the reader understands that Paula’s early travels play a great role in making her the person she is.
As with all Jackson’s novels, I became close to her characters, not wanting to leave when I reach the last page. Jackson, also a voice actress, narrates many of her novels, and even after having read an advance copy of The Opposite of Everyone, listening to the audio is a treat still to come. Fans of Marisa de los Santos, Sarah Gruen, Sarah Addison Allen, Ann Patchett, and Fannie Flagg will love the journey as they watch Paula find her family and herself.
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