“‘Do you think it‘s too late to start something new?‘ asks Ilse. Virginia sets down her wine glass. ‘Absolutely not. It‘s the best way to grow old and stay young at the same time.‘” — p 115, Afterword by Nina Schuyler

I listened to the audiobook of this and bailed at 40%. The voice is honest and unpretentious, but I wanted insight beyond the self-finding mission of a privileged white girl in her 20s. To be fair, this book doesn‘t pretend to be anything it‘s not! Just wasn‘t for me.

This took me forever to get through, but in a good way. Reading it felt like living in the jungle—disorienting, beautiful, rich, uncomfortable… Its been days since I finished but my mind is still in the world of MWSK. I‘ll never forget Sogolon, the heroine of this book. She‘s so ruthless and resilient, full of kindness and grief. It‘s like she‘s lived so many lives in one. It‘s like I‘ve read so many books in just this one.

Amy Key writes from the perspective of someone who has wanted and been denied romantic love for much of her life, and the lack of it has clearly provided her with a fullness too—one of insight. The vulnerability in her voice was exactly what I craving in my reading life last week.

I thought this book would focus on celebrating solitude but it‘s more about about exploring the ways intimacy is available to us through friendship and self-love.