"A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl," by Jean Thompson

“A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl” (Simon and Schuster, 2018) is exactly the kind of novel I am so often drawn to: a multigenerational family saga, focusing mainly on the lives of the women characters, written with attention to the details of relationships among the characters and of everyday life. In addition, its author is Jean Thompson, whose novels and short stories I have enjoyed and admired in the past. Actually, I admired her earlier fiction, but somewhat “went off” her work when I read her last two novels before this one (“The Humanity Project” and “She Poured out her Heart”); “A Cloud…” brought me back to the characteristics of Thompson’s fiction that made me like it so much. A major theme in the novel is that of what a woman’s life is meant to be. Evelyn, of the oldest generation, wanted to work and to “be someone” in the world, but became caught up in being a wife and mother, and was not able to achieve her dreams. Her daughter Laura, on the other hand, wanted most of all to be a wife and mother, even though her marriage turned out to be unhappy, and her children were disappointing in different ways. Her daughter Grace seemed to need to get away from her and the family; her son Michael became addicted to drugs and a series of rehab efforts were mostly ineffective. Despite all these issues, there was definitely love in this family, if not always well expressed. The story goes back and forth among various time periods, and we the readers gradually see connections that were not immediately evident. A sort of subtheme is the question of where “home” is, and what it means. The novel is set in a small Midwestern college town, which is both nurturing and, to some characters, stifling. Two family homes are also important “characters” in this novel. There is much to like in this novel, much to think about. Although it doesn’t feel terrifically original, what it does, it does well. And who am I to question Thompson’s expert and engaging use of this “formula,” when, as I said at the beginning of this post, this is one of the types of novels I most like and savor.