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Unbecoming

Review

Unbecoming

UNBECOMING begins with a lie. Grace, the narrator of this finely written, surefooted debut by Rebecca Scherm, strikes a delicate balance between setting up expectations and revelations from the first page while dropping surprise bombshells all the way to the end of the book, even as she plays with the emotions of those around her. That would include the reader as well.

Grace’s narrative bounces back and forth in time between Paris, France, in the present and Garland, Tennessee, in the past. Grace is from everywhere, raised by her mother here and her father there, before the somewhat hapless parents eventually reunite and attempt to establish some sort of stability in Garland, a tiny town on the southwest tip of Tennessee. When her parents almost immediately conceive twins, nine-year-old Grace feels even more disconnected. Indeed, a short sentence within the opening pages subtlely prefigures what is to come. Grace’s narration of her early life --- the instability, the frequent geographical moves and changes in parental custody --- does much to demonstrate that by the time things settled down for her, it was probably too late; the damage was done.

"Scherm’s abundant talents are revealed in this impressive debut novel; she keeps things dramatic and suspenseful from beginning to end, so that even when nothing seems to be happening, one is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Grace’s sole retreat is her friendship with Riley Graham, whose parents welcome her into their home at a very early age as the daughter they never had. We hear very little of her biological parents --- and even less of her brothers --- once the Grahams are introduced, at which point the eternal question of whether good will uplift bad or bad will drag down good has pretty much already been answered by what little has been revealed of what is to come. All, of course, is eventually told. We learn how the adult Grace has landed in Paris, restoring art figures for a less-than-scrupulous employer, how Riley and one of his friends wound up in prison, and all of the reasons (let us count the ways) why Grace is nervous concerning their imminent release.

The tone that Scherm creates for Grace is chillingly pitch-perfect. Grace is so good at justifying her own actions that she manages to convince the reader of them as well, at least at first. She seems unaware of the devastation that she leaves so casually in her wake, or the potential harm that her actions will bring to her and others in the present and future. It’s the little damages that seemingly hurt the most, particularly for those who truly love her. For them, Grace is the vampire --- the pretty pink one rotting sweetly from the inside out --- that those who care for her bade to enter their home, even as the reader uneasily wishes they would not. What is fascinating, though, is the manner in which Scherm can give the reader a quick glimpse of what is coming yet keep surprising, page after page, practically to the conclusion.

UNBECOMING is a quietly disturbing and unsettling book that will leave the reader uncomfortable on a number of levels. Everyone has met someone like Grace; the fortunate ones cross to the other side of the street in time. Scherm’s abundant talents are revealed in this impressive debut novel; she keeps things dramatic and suspenseful from beginning to end, so that even when nothing seems to be happening, one is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. And while violence in the book is kept to a minimum, what actually happens is much worse.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on January 23, 2015

Unbecoming
by Rebecca Scherm