Get Swept Away with This Female-Focused Epic

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Unwilling to face life as a teenage mother, eighteen-year-old Penny Azevedo leaps at the chance to move to Portugal; she leaves behind her childish nickname and her three-year-old daughter, Jewel. As Pauline, she builds an exciting new life in Coimbra that includes a complicated relationship with a guitar player and a unique way of repaying her mentor's generosity.

Jewel is growing up under the loving but not-so-watchful eye of her grandmother. On the surface, Jewel is the quintessential good girl who loves art and animals, but by age fifteen she has a secret life that includes drinking, drugs and stealing Gram's VW van.

A terrifying accident forces Pauline to face the life she left behind. She must decide whether to go back to California and attempt to reconnect with her mother and daughter, or remain in Portugal, the life she loves. Feeling abandoned and resentful, Jewel questions whether she wants a relationship with her mother at all.

Across sixteen years and two continents, three generations learn to accept mother/daughter relationships on their own terms. But will any of them learn to forgive?

Quick Take

Thanks, Universe is a sweeping epic following three generations of women, shown through the lens of heartbreak and resurrection – I am enthralled

Tell Me More

Upon reading the synopsis for Thanks, Universe by Cheri Krueger, I was enticed by its female-focused storyline. The entirety of the story itself did not disappoint, and I was deeply intrigued by the coverage of three generations of women in one family. None of the featured women are perfect, and their flaws are put out on display, making the novel increasingly real with each page.

Thanks, Universe starts off by following Penny (Pauline), a young mother who leaves her life and her child behind to begin a new life in Portugal. Only when an accident occurs is Penny (Pauline) faced with the decision to go back and face her mother and the daughter she left behind or remain in Portugal where she has built her new life.

Author Cherie Krueger’s writing is description-heavy, which at times comes off as quite wordy to the reader. I found myself skimming some of the adjective-heavy descriptions as I like to create the image of the story for myself in my mind. However, readers who enjoy more descriptions to help them visualize the novel will be pleased. This is just something to be aware of before considering Thanks, Universe for your next read.

The characters in Thanks, Universe are often unlikeable, but I found this to be mandatory over the course of the plot. Krueger doesn’t necessarily want the reader to like the characters; instead, she has created them to be flawed to mirror real life. I found myself painfully attached to the characters as the novel went on, even though I did not like Penny at all in the beginning. These complicated feelings solidified for me how well developed the characters are. Upon finishing the novel I am stuck with a whirlpool of feelings within me, and this is exactly how I like to feel after reading any coming-of-age or young adult novels.

Thanks, Universe is a beautiful coming-of-age novel that will have the reader wrapped up with complicated feelings and long periods of deep thinking upon finishing the novel. If you are a fan of young adult or coming-of-age novels that feature imperfect mother/daughter relationships, then this is the pick for you.