Title: Gun Love
Author: Jennifer Clement
First published March 6, 2018
240 pages, Hardcover
ISBN: 9781781090640 (ISBN10: 1781090645)
Rating: 3.72
Overview
In Gun Love by Jennifer Clement, fourteen-year-old Pearl France and her mother Margot live in a broken-down car surviving on a diet of powdered milk and bug spray. Life on the edge of a Florida trailer park is strange enough, but when Pastor Rex’s ‘Guns for God’ programme brings Eli Redmond to town Pearl’s world is turned upside down.
Eli pays regular visits to Margot in the back seat, and forces Pearl to explore a world beyond the car. Margot is given a gift by Eli, a gun of her own, just like he’s given her flowers.
It sits under the driver’s seat, a dark presence that will reveal itself in unexpected ways. This mesmerizing story of family, community and violence is told from the perspective of a sharp-eyed teenager and exposes America’s obsession with firearms and its devastating consequences.
About the Author
Jennifer Clement is a trailblazer in the literary world, serving as the first female President of PEN International since the organization was established in 1921. Born and raised in Mexico City, Clement went on to study English Literature and Anthropology at New York University, as well as French Literature in Paris.
She holds an MFA from the University of Southern Maine.
Clement has dedicated her career to advocating for human rights, particularly in her home country of Mexico. From 2009 to 2012, she served as President of PEN Mexico, where her work focused on the protection of journalists.
In 2014, she received the Sara Curry Humanitarian Award for her novel Prayers for the Stolen, which shed light on the issue of young girls being abducted in Mexico.
Clement is the author of four novels, including Gun Love and The Poison That Fascinates, as well as the memoir Widow Basquiat, which explores the life of painter Jean Michel Basquiat in 1980s New York City. She has also published several books of poetry, and her work has been translated into 24 languages.
Prayers for the Stolen has garnered critical acclaim, being named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and appearing on numerous “Best Books of the Year” lists. The novel was awarded France’s Grand Prix des Lectrices Lyceenes de ELLE and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
Clement has received numerous honors for her writing and humanitarian work, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the UK’s Canongate Prize. She is a member of Mexico’s prestigious “Sistema Nacional de Creadores.” In addition to her writing, several of Clement’s works have been adapted for the stage, and the BBC is currently adapting Prayers for the Stolen as a radio play.
Outside of her literary pursuits, Clement co-founded The San Miguel Poetry Week in her hometown of San Miguel de Allende 22 years ago with her sister, Barbara Sibley.
Editoral Review
In Gun Love, Jennifer Clement explores the issue of gun violence in America through the eyes of a young protagonist, Pearl, who lives in a car with her mother in a trailer park in Florida. Published in 2018, this novel is a unique addition to the literary genre of southern gothic, characterized by a sense of decay and grotesque imagery.
Clement’s writing style in Gun Love is stunningly lyrical and poetic, with vivid descriptions of the natural landscape and the overlooked corners of American society. The book is told from Pearl’s point of view, and as such, her voice is innocent and unfiltered, allowing the reader to see the world from a child’s perspective.
The plot of Gun Love centers around Pearl’s search for connection and meaning amidst the poverty and violence around her. The setting of a trailer park in Florida adds to the southern gothic atmosphere, with its sense of decay, desperation, and social isolation.
The most significant conflict in the novel arises when a group of men comes to the trailer park, threatening Pearl and her mother, leading to a tragic ending. Clement’s novel is significant in that it addresses the pervasive issue of gun violence in America in a nuanced and complex way, without resorting to polarizing political messages.
The book is not about gun control policies, but rather about the human cost and tragedy of gun violence, as experienced by a young girl. One of the strengths of Gun Love is its character development.
Pearl is a fully realized and sympathetic protagonist, and the supporting cast of characters is equally well-developed, adding depth and complexity to the story. The pacing of the book is slow and deliberate, allowing the reader to immerse themselves in the world of the novel fully.
One of the limitations of Gun Love is that the southern gothic style may be off-putting to some readers. The book is also quite bleak and sad, with no clear resolution or happy ending, which may be challenging for some readers.
Overall, Gun Love is an essential and timely novel that addresses the issue of gun violence in America in a compassionate and complex way. Clement’s poetic writing style and well-developed characters make this book a standout in the southern gothic genre.
I would recommend Gun Love to readers who are interested in exploring the issue of gun violence in America in a literary context. I give this novel a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
