Reviewer: Allie
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Gina is a woman starting over after an incredibly difficult couple of years. After she successfully beat breast cancer, her husband, Stuart, leaves her. Then Gina discovers that Stuart and his mistress are having a baby. When she moves into a new flat, Gina realizes that she has too much stuff. She needs to get rid of her physical and psychological baggage, so she can move on. Gina comes up with a plan to keep only a hundred items – ones that really matter to her. Through the purging process, she remembers events from her past and begins to look forward to the future. Then she meets Nick, a client with whom she develops a close friendship. Nick seems perfect, but of course he’s not, because he’s married. Can you say complicated?
The premise of this book is very clever. I loved the idea of Gina whittling her life down to a hundred possessions (and of course wondered which hundred things of mine I’d keep). Dillon is a good writer, especially with character development. I like Gina, and I certainly felt empathy for her. The relationship between Gina and her best friend was another highlight of the book. The plot however was very slow in the beginning. Too slow. I also got impatient with the number of flashbacks (most prompted by an article that Gina found while unpacking). I get that the flashbacks were a vehicle for backstory, but there were way too many of them. Also – the married Nick was a big turn off, especially given the way Gina’s marriage ended. The tone of the story had an overall melancholy that honestly depressed me. And the ending left much to be desired.
