📘 Looking For Me
by Beth Hoffman
Genre Fiction ◦ Southern
Format & Source Print ◦ Own
Publication Pamela Dorman Books ◦ 2013
Rating ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
📝 My Review
This is long overdue. I mean, really. Beth Hoffman’s debut novel, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, is one of my all time favorite novels. I loved the Southern feel and setting, the coming of age story, the endearing characters. I’m so glad I finally got around to reading her second and newest novel after much too long!
Teddi Overman left her home in Kentucky many years ago for a new life in Charleston, where she runs a shop renovating furniture and antiques. Her life is good as she surrounds herself with wonderful friends and coworkers, but something has always been missing in her life... many years earlier, her brother disappeared. It shattered her family, as he has been presumed dead, but Teddi has always felt that he is still alive, somewhere in the forest or nature that he loved so much and felt a strong connection to. Her family has suffered greatly and Teddi will do whatever she can to find out what happened to Josh.
Family plays a vital role in this novel: what does it mean to be family? Can we ever forgive or forget? Teddi’s family is not a happy one after reeling from the disappearance. She feels a disconnect from her mother who has grown angry and distant over the years. Teddi tries to repair the relationship, though it sometimes seems moot and impossible. Even though Josh has been gone for a number of years, his family has never been able to recuperate fully. It hasn’t helped that there have been no concrete answers.
Nature is another very important theme in this novel that I enjoyed. Josh was always a bit different, maybe even a bit strange, but Teddi loved him greatly. Josh had a passion for nature and wildlife. He did everything he could to help wounded animals, and felt most at ease in the woods. Teddi often wondered if he may have disappeared into nature.
I really enjoyed this novel for many of the same reasons I loved Saving CeeCee Honeycutt so much. I thought the characters were very well developed and endearing, Teddi in particular. Though you feel a sense of sadness from her, you’ll admire her strength in leaving, but also in knowing when to come back. Just like in CeeCee, you also get a sense of what family really means after reading this one. And of course, as always, I love anything that is Southern, like this novel!
This story has Beth Hoffman’s trademark style: beautiful, lyrical writing with a rich Southern setting. It also has a strong air of mystery behind it that will keep you guessing until the end. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!
“We are the authors of our lives, and, through choice or circumstance, some of us leave our stories unfinished or untold. Though it’s taken me a long while to get here, I’ve come to accept that life, like the vast woodlands that surround my childhood home, is layered with mysteries.”
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