No. of pages: 226
Rating: 6/10
Synopsis: Mom, I went to the store. See inside the fridge. I watered the plants. I cleaned out Peter's cage. I tidied the sitting room. And the kitchen. And I did the washing up. I'm going to bed. Your live-in servant, Claire. "Life on the Refrigerator Door" is told exclusively through notes exchanged by Claire and her mother, Elizabeth, during the course of a life-altering year. Their story builds to an emotional crescendo when Elizabeth is diagnosed with breast cancer. Stunningly sad but ultimately uplifting, this is a clever, moving, and original portrait of the relationship between a daughter and mother. It is about how we live our lives constantly rushing, and never making time for those we love. It is also an elegy to how much can be said in so few words, if only we made the time to say them.
Review: I liked the style in which this book is written, as notes that have been left between a mother and her teenage daughter on the door of their refrigerator, although it's style makes it a very quick read. Obviously with the book consisting of just small notes, there's no real depth to the story, you don't know enough to become attached to the characters, and that's a shame, because people who are living through a bad situation with cancer could find this book a great comfort if it were more 'story-like'. But I do think there's a moral in this story, that we're so caught up with rushing through life that we never take a second just to slow down and talk to the ones we love, and how it's important to do that before it's too late. It's something I was glad to have read, but probably not something I'll pick up again.
