You’ll Love It Here by Natalie Sue
Natalie Sue’s debut I Hope This Finds You Well was one of the best books I read last year, so while I was waiting for my library copy of You’ll Love It Here, I had to remind myself again and again that it might not hit the same. You know, sometimes we, as book lovers, tend to exaggerate our feelings for our favorites to a level that is not accurate anymore.
I tried my very best to think of this book in its own right and not to bring my previous sentiments to my reading experience, though the question of how much I succeeded remains.
Mona’s bumpy path to getting to know her neighbors and getting past her initial verdicts is the heart of this story. She is a judgmental person, no doubt. But I feel like we all have prejudices and judgments, and unless we put in the effort to know one another and are proven otherwise, our judgments remain. And for Mona, there was also this "danger" of new people threatening her so-much-needed career achievements. She had her own story where there was no room for her eccentric neighbors. And I get it! But what this book could use more of is how that transformation, that understanding, came to her. It’s definitely there, but it's the most important part of the character’s arc to me—I wanted more.
Mona’s character evolution goes hand in hand with the city's own gentrification, which I think is one of the reasons this book has a strong sense of place. But it’s not just any city—it’s Calgary, so there are Flames jerseys hanging on the walls. And it’s also little details, like The Tragically Hip playing in the diners, that give the book such a lived-in, distinctly Canadian feel that I loved the most!
We are also introduced to a few Persian dishes that I took notes on, starting with kotlet. I love when I'm introduced to new foods in books. I had this phase where I was making ash reshteh (Persian noodle soup) every week after I encountered it in I Hope This Finds You Well—I was truly unstoppable.