Review: Belonging by Jill Fordyce

Jenny is thirteen when an epic dust storm rolls into her central California town in December 1977. Bedridden after contracting a life-threatening illness in the storm and suffering a shocking loss, Jenny realizes she will never be cared for by the mother who both neglects and terrifies her or the father who allows it. She relies on her cousin, Heather, who has the loving home Jenny longs for; her beloved great-uncle, Gino, the last link between generations; her best friend, Henry, a free spirit with whom she shares an inexplicable bond; and earnest baseball star, Billy, who becomes her first love. After a stunning turn of events in both their lives, Jenny and Henry leave for college in LA together in the summer of 1982—Jenny fleeing a broken heart, and Henry running from something he can’t reveal, even to his best friend. When she returns home years later, the life Jenny so carefully created collides with the one she left behind.

Spanning three decades, Belonging is about first love and heartbreak, friendship and secrets, family and forgiveness, hometowns and coming of age, and memory and music. The heart of the story is Jenny’s struggle to undo the binds of a childhood that have deeply affected her life, the painful path to love endured by children raised in alcoholic families, and the grim reality of believing you must hide a part of yourself in order to belong.

Belonging by Jill Fordyce
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I struggled with whether to give this book three or four stars. It’s very well written. The characters are well developed, flawed and relatable. The story itself is very relatable for anyone who has had an abusive, neglectful and angry parent. However, the religious undertones were a drawback, and I wouldn’t have chosen this book if I had known it was so filled with bible verses and Christianity.

I like that the book followed Jenny’s healing journey throughout her life and showed how complicated navigating healing from trauma really is.

The scenes of disownment by one of the gay character’s parents could be triggering for many people in the LGBTQ+ community. There are also scenes that may be triggering for people who have lost a loved one to AIDS. I have not seen that mentioned anywhere and thought it should be mentioned.

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