Book Review: Dear Miss Metropolitan by Carolyn Ferrell
Introducing an extraordinary and original writer whose first novel explores the intersections of grief and rage, personal strength and healing--and what we owe one another.
Ferrell’s Dear Miss Metropolitan gives voice to characters surviving unimaginable tragedy.
Fern seeks refuge from her mother’s pill-popping and boyfriends via Soul Train; Gwin finds salvation in the music of Prince much to her congregation’s dismay and Jesenia, miles ahead of her classmates at her gifted and talented high school, is a brainy and precocious enigma. None of this matters to Boss Man, the monster who abducts them and holds them captive in a dilapidated house in Queens.
On the night they are finally rescued, throngs line the block gawking and claiming ignorance. Among them is lifetime resident Miss Metropolitan, advice columnist for the local weekly, but how could anyone who fancies herself a “newspaperwoman” have missed a horror story unfolding right across the street? And why is it that only two of the three girls―now women―were found? The mystery haunts the two remaining “victim girls” who are subjected to the further trauma of becoming symbols as they continuously adapt to their present and their unrelenting past.
I was so compelled to read this book just by the cover alone. Come on…the face peaking out of the side of the cover and the bouffant hair…attention getting, curiosity. I won the book as an ARC from Goodreads and audio from NetGalley to provide an honest review. The (Advanced Readers Copy) is gorgeous with deckled edges, and flapped covers.
According to reviews on LibraryThing, you either loved the book or strongly disliked it, but nothing in between. For me, the book is full of lyricism but it tells the tragic story, gives voice to three young girls surviving an unimaginable kidnapping, according to the author, it’s inspired by real events. Well, inspired by real events caught my attention, and I quickly reflected on the Ariel Castro kidnappings that took place between 2002 and 2004 and held 3 girls captive in his home in Cleveland, Ohio. The three girls were imprisoned until May 6, 2013.
The book will be released for sale on July 5, 2021, and I wanted to finish reading and review this obscure novel before that date. I almost gave up on it, because of its jagged edges of storytelling, but I persevered to read with an open mind, and remembered what the main story is about. The novel inventively tells of the events before, during and after the ordeal. As this is Ms. Ferrell’s debut novel, is comical, chilling, and sad. Note, the pictures throughout the book add an element of unexpected charm.
This is a book that may require two readings to fully appreciate the characters and the heartbeat of the story. The writing style was not favorable to me, however, this was the epitome of creative writing at its core. Note, the pictures and illustrations throughout the book add an element of unexpected charm, but the audiobook was narrated wonderfully by Bahni Turpin, dramatic and clear. I dislike the fact that I have to rate the book, because I feel it diminishes the creativity the author has woven into this multi faceted story. It lost me at many points, but the need to understand remained to the very end.
Publication Date: July 6, 2021
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