Pulls Your Heart Strings

"Starry Starry Night is an emotionally evocative gift, an invitation to experience the world through the eyes of a child. In this tender novel Anju, recounts her childhood in 1960’s Trinidad, with the reader, from ages of 4 to 12, with remarkable perceptiveness, sensitivity and insight. Her keen observations and her sensory rich perspective immerses you in a vibrant cultural landscape, full of the smells and tastes of local food, the natural beauty of the ocean and flowers, most poignantly the warmth and security of her grandparents love. Raised lovingly by her grandparents, Ma and Pa while her father studies medicine abroad, Anju’s safe and familiar world is upended when her parents and siblings return from Ireland. Having no memory of them she is confused about who they are and her relationship to them, and devastated by her forced separation from the only home she has ever known. Mootoo spectacularly captures the grief, confusion and sense of displacement that follows. Anju’s struggle to understand where she belongs is heart wrenching. It is deeply affecting to see her learn to keep herself small and navigate the emotional dissonance around her. The contrast between what is said and what is felt is portrayed with heartbreaking precision, as Anju tries to make sense of dynamics she can’t fully grasp. The novel is emotionally layered capturing not just Anju’s pain, but also the sorrow around her: a grandmother relinquishing the child she raised, and a mother returning to a daughter who doesn’t know her. This is a tender beautifully written story of family, identity and belonging. With insight and grace, it pulls at every heart string."

— Whatithinkaboutthisbook (5/5)