She Treads Softly: One Moment

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

One Moment

One Moment by Becky Hunter
3/12/24; 352 pages
Forever (Grand Central Publishing)

One Moment by Becky Hunter is a domestic drama about friendship, grief, love, and living with MS. It is highly recommended.

Scarlett and Evie became best friends after they first met at ten years old and have been there for each other ever since. The day Scarlett died changed everything. Now her spirit is still around, watching Evie grieve and reliving memories of her life. Evie is struggling with trying to live without Scarlett and dealing with her MS. Nate, the man who Scarlett was helping when she died, keeps turning up, trying to support Evie and help her live with her grief, while Scarlett watches everything.

Chapters alternate between the point-of-view of Evie and Scarlett and the two women are well-developed characters. While deeply missing Scarlett, Evie is dealing with her grief, flaring MS symptoms, and Nate constantly turning up. Scarlett observes this but also tells the reader stories from her past that she now views with a changed perspective. The depiction of Evie's love of music, grappling with grief, and her MS is well done. Nate is an essential character to the plot, as is Astrid, a teenage neighbor of Evie.

Admittedly, for me, the plot lagged a bit until later in the narrative. I'm also not a huge fan of the spirit of a deceased character looking on, following the actions of the living. It wasn't until much later in the story that I appreciated what Hunter was doing in this choice and it provides a poignant moment. The last part of the narrative actually raised the rating for me. Thanks to Forever for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.