Review — The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

I just want to start off by saying that Josie Silver correctly said “Frankenstein’s monster” instead of “Frankenstein” when mentioning a Halloween costume in the book, and for that I love her. I also want to add that there are some spoilers ahead, so bear that in mind.

I was so excited to read The Two Lives of Lydia Bird because I had absolutely LOVED One Day in December. When I chose Lydia as my Book of the Month pick, I couldn’t wait to pick it up. I thought “oh, I know I’ll love this because her other book was phenomenal.” While Lydia is a moving story about grief and how each person’s grieving process is different, I did not enjoy it as much as ODID.

First off, I realize that these are two entirely different stories: ODID was a quirky love story told over multiple years and through two perspectives, and TTLOLB is a story of a woman grieving the loss of her fiance and coming into her own. What they do share is the same construction of character and the organization of time. One of the things I like about Josie Silver’s writing is how fully she creates her characters. They are people you can easily connect with, and they unfold in front of you on the page through actions. I also love that in lieu of chapters, Silver uses dates and times. She makes the timeline of her books so clear and easy to follow. It allows time to pass naturally while noting exactly when events of importance occur. From a creative perspective, I appreciate the timestamps because they break from the norm of chapter titles. From a reader’s perspective, I greatly appreciate the explicit denotation of time because it helps me focus on the story instead of trying to figure out what event occurred when and where exactly I am in the story.

I also appreciated how Silver discussed the grieving process. She showed multiple characters grieving, but they were each processing differently. Lydia processed her grief through escapism. She used her dreams to regain a sense of normalcy and happiness. Later on, Lydia’s dreams helped her see that she was not the same person as she was in the past, and that’s okay. They allowed her to see change within herself, accept that change, and take charge of her new life. Jonah Jones, on the other hand, stepped away from things that brought him joy (music, for example). He associated them with the death of his best friend, and they brought up the painful memory of the incident he was a part of. Jonah bottled up his feelings, refusing to discuss the car accident with Lydia for quite some time. Grief is something everyone experiences, but the way each individual processes grief differs. It’s important to discuss grief, and I think she handled this well.

SPOILERS AHEAD: CONTINUE READING IF YOU DARE!

Despite the characters, the timeline, and the great writing, I found Lydia to be predictable and lacking some substance. I believe around page 80 or so I guessed that Lydia and Jonah would fall in love, and lo and behold, I was correct. To me, there was so much switching back and forth from dream world to reality that the dreams lost their significance. Yes, in the end the dreams taught Lydia that she had changed as a person and she was stronger than before. She accepted that she had changed and ultimately moved on. But there was nothing in the dreams that raised the stakes high enough to be of great significance. I’ll say this and maybe it’ll make sense, but maybe it won’t: so much happened in the middle of this book, but almost nothing happened as well. I wish there had been more of a pinnacle or a pivotal moment where Lydia came to her realization, but there was not. The story just dragged for me.

At the end of the day, TTLOLB is a story about one woman’s journey to find who she is on her own. I love how Silver plays with time and how she writes her characters. I just wish this story had given me more.