Book Review: Rules for Moving – Nancy Star

To the outside world, beloved advice columnist Lane Meckler has all the answers. What no one knows is that she also has a secret: her life is a disaster, and it’s just gotten worse. Her husband, whom she was planning to leave, has died in a freak accident. Her six-year-old son, Henry, has stopped speaking to everyone but her. Lane’s solution? Move. Growing up, that was what her family did best.
But when she and Henry pack up and leave, Lane realizes that their next home is no better, and she finally begins to ask herself some hard questions. What made her family move so often? Why has she always felt like an outsider? How can she get Henry to speak?
On a journey to help her son find his voice, Lane discovers that somewhere along the way she lost her own. If she wants to help him, she’ll need to find the courage to face the past and to speak the truth she’s been hiding from for years.

I am not afraid of admitting when a cover grabs my attention. It kept popping up on my Kindle lock screen and in the end curiosity got the better of me.

The premise of the book seemed so refreshing and honestly, it did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed Star’s writing (and what a great name, by the way) and her pacing of the story was spot on. This is not a thriller, it is intended to be a reflection of a very specific period in someone’s life but with clear connotations of how our family unit behaviour and childhood experiences impact on our own behaviour.

Star quite clearly ‘gets’ families. I think most of us have probably said at some stage in their life that their family is weird or different in some way, and those feelings and experiences can be to different extremes. In the book, Lane’s family choose to escape their past by moving and brushing things under the carpet – but circumstances push them to reveal what really happened all those years ago.

The aspect of this book I loved most was how all the different threads come together so imperceptibly. Even after I finished the book, I found myself thinking about it and making connections. Personally, I don’t want everything to just be handed to me on a plate; I enjoy the period of contemplation afterward that keeps the booking going beyond its physical (or digital!) pages.

Rules for Moving is novel, compelling, and altogether a wonderful read. Highly recommended, particularly for book groups.

I downloaded this book using my Kindle Unlimited subscription.