Book Review: "That Green Eyed Girl" by Julie Owen Moylan

I don't normally select mid-century New York fiction mainly because when it comes to New York, I'm more interested in the war eras or the Great Depression. The 1950s are alright I guess, but I think this book really turned me on to reading more about these decades as well. I found this in my recommendations on the Kindle store and was actually quite surprised that I enjoyed it. Not only is there a love story at the centre but there is also a strong critique of mental health culture back in those times.

The story begins in 1975 with a sixteen-year-old girl narrating how her mother has had to go into hospital. Her mother is unwell and her father does not seem to care. Among some things, this girl (named, Ava) finds some letters addressed to someone who no longer lives in the apartment. There is also a photograph with the word 'LIAR' scrawled across it. Desperate to find out who these things belong to, Ava begins to solve this mystery it seems, as a way to not feel so alone without her parents.

We are then thrust back into 1955 when Dovie and Gillian are in a clandestine relationship and, as they are two women, they cannot tell anyone. However, a woman named Judith is believed somewhat okay and eventually finds out about them, moving into their apartment and making herself comfortable. Dovie absolutely despises Judith and as the narrative moves on, we learn more and more about the couple who must live in the full amount of secrecy out of fear of prosecution. The question they have is whether Judith can really be trusted at all.

As Ava starts to find things out, she meets various people, tracks down jobs and living spaces and then, there are other people in the middle of it. She wants to know why this one woman on the photograph is considered a liar and what happened between the group. As she explores, the word 'died' starts to appear and now she knows, it really is a matter of life and death that she finds out what happened back some twenty years' ago.

The book continues with this back and forth, slowly converging in on itself and emerges with these answers the reader could have never expected. The structure may be typical of the 21st century era of fiction, but it still makes these small changes and surprises as we move through the book. It is beautifully formed and I think that anyone who enjoys dual timelines will definitely enjoy the difference in presentation that they have.

My favourite character in the book was Dovie because she seemed like such a gentle soul who was willing to tell the reader everything. Her narrative is one of love and detail, she gives us this incredible portrait of Gillian and this intense love she has for her. However, she also does not hold back on her opinions of Judith in which she despises her for her actions, her power over them and her natural acts of deception and evil.

Dovie is basically the character that the reader hangs on to because we sympathise with her. She has a dream of going to Paris with Gillian and getting away from everyone in America because of their judgemental natures. However, Gillian is not sure because her biggest fear is being found out and sent to a mental facility where they may electrocute her (I believe this may have been the same brutal treatment that Lou Reed was subjected to according to his song 'Kill Your Sons'). It is an example of this mass hysteria in America which is still kind of prevalent that for some reason, people are afraid of gay people.

All in all, I found this book to be a brilliant example of love and loss, with the big themes of the times that it represented being covered and critiqued. It is a wonderful story in which people are eventually brought together for confrontations but it is how that is done that terrifies and endures. An amazing work of fiction woven like a piece of embroidery - two timelines converge to open up a whole new world of possibilities of the past and fill in the gaps to what knowledge is still unknown.