A Review of Sunshine
Complicated sibling relationships. Revisiting the past is the only way forward. Messy endings.
A Review: Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave
Disclaimer: This is my first book review, hehe. I don't know why, but I never view myself as the right person to review books (or my opinion on books as worthy) even though I'm an avid reader. But when I thought about it more, I realized: one, this is my blog, and I can do whatever I want; and two, the value of my opinion, or any opinion, honestly, is an elusive concept. I love getting my thoughts out. It makes me walk a little lighter. So this is an outlet for me, and a way I can simultaneously take reading more seriously and enjoy it. Also, I will try my best to review books solely from my perspective and not include any spoilers.
This book was on Reese Witherspoon's book club, and one of the reviews read something like "a great poolside read," and that was exactly how I read this book, poolside. It follows an influencer-chef on her journey to and from fame. It explores concepts of authenticity and the rarity of it in today's world.
I really enjoyed reading the book. It was a light read but was still thought-provoking. A theme that kept resonating with me was how the path to healing always seems to be presented as confronting your past. Not just in this book, but in general. No matter where you seek healing, somehow it always goes back to childhood. I understand that the way one grows up shapes so much of who they are today and how they operate in the world, but one could argue that living a life so far removed from your traumatic past is a form of healing? Even if you're not confronting it, or pretending it didn't happen, maybe that is the shortcut? Books like Sunshine argue against that logic, that there is no shortcut to recovering from past trauma. No matter how much distance you put between who you were or where you were and who you are or where you are now, it always catches up to you. I don't know where I personally stand with this. I found tremendous growth in revisiting and coming to terms with a lot of my childhood struggles. However, the cost of that was too high. I don't know if it's always worth it. At the same time, many of them remain in a vault so unreachable to me now, and I'm just fine. But is "just fine" what we're aspiring to? I'm contradicting myself here, but this was an internal debate I was having with myself as I was reading the book. Don't let this misguide you though, the book is very surface-level when it comes to past trauma.
Another theme I connected with is that no matter how bad your relationship with family gets, having them in your life always seems better than not. It's very hard for me, at least, to imagine a life where I'm fully functioning and happy without my family. And that's not because we have the best, smoothest, most amazing relationships. Contrary to that, my family has been through a lot. My relationship with each of my siblings and even my parents is very layered and complex. However, I'd take that any day over not having any contact with them. I know this is a very individual experience, and every person is different. Some parental or sibling relationships can be very abusive, and remaining in contact could really harm one's wellbeing. I acknowledge that. But in my case, and the protagonist's in Hello, Sunshine, tolerating a certain level of toxicity, per se, is much better than completely cutting off your family. I like how the author portrayed a sister relationship throughout the book. I think it was very realistic.
Finally, the ending of the book, despite the name, was not a perfect bow-tied happy one. It was a messy, open-ended, non-resolution type of ending, yet the protagonist was happy. (Is this a spoiler? Sorry if it is.) I liked that a lot. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for happy Disney-perfect endings where everything is sunshine and roses, but I also love how the author somehow made me so comfortable and happy accepting an ending that wasn't that. It made me think about how so often we delay our happiness, almost intentionally withholding it until all the pieces fall into their right place and everything is perfect, only then are we allowed to release it, which makes us miss out on so much joy. The way the author made me feel content at a not-so-perfect ending was such a nice reminder that we don't need to deprive ourselves of small joys, and instead we need to actively steal them whenever we can.
Overall, I liked the book. It was cute and a fast read. I've recently been in a reading rut and read two books in a row that I wasn't able to complete (which I HATE, I get stuck trying so hard to read a book that I find so difficult to enjoy, just because I hate not completing stories, and then it robs me of time I could have used reading something I actually enjoyed). So glad this book broke the spell.
Do I recommend? Yes. Do I HIGHLY recommend? No.
:-)
