Beautiful Kate

Beautiful Kate is such a difficult book to review. First, the story goes pretty deep into some taboo topics. How does one talk about the merits of an incest story without sounding like a creep? Next, the novel shows off an abundance of racism and homophobia. From the first instance, I was uncomfortable, but I thought it would be relevant to the plot. It wasn't. At all. One could argue that it perhaps helps the reader better define these characters, but no, it doesn't. This was just one more thing to be disgusted by within these pages.

And yet, Beautiful Kate is a tremendously written and riveting tale of family secrets and loyalties, bursting with psychologically-complex characters and so much introspection. The pain of this story feels genuine. This is one of those rare novels that pulls a reader along easily, but provides more complexity than such stories generally provide. I'd like to have been given a better understanding of Kate; her character is so terribly troubled, but she doesn't receive the same narrative attention the rest of her family receives.

Beautiful Kate is a difficult, but sharp and absorbing tale, marred most by a terrible authorial decision to include completely unnecessary hatred.