The Origins of Iris by Beth Lewis

 

Iris thought she had it all, a loving wife, a stable job that she loved, and a nice apartment in the city. Her new life was the perfect escape from her family and trauma from the past. Since her dad died, she never really felt like herself, but her wife, Claude, made her feel like she was on the moon. But one day, everything got turned around. Her relationship with Claude was falling apart, she was forced to leave the job she loved, and she stopped talking to her best friend, Ellis. After years of staying in the same unhappy place, Iris decided to run away on a journey to discover herself.

I’ve never read a book about self discovery before, and honestly I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I was very wrong. The story flips back and forth between the past and the present, unlocking pieces of Iris’s past life that allow you to understand why she is how she is. The book focuses on themes of grieving, abuse, and stepping away from what you know is wrong for you. Watching Iris’s character development throughout the story is very inspiring, seeing how she was someone who was afraid to step away from her old life and becoming someone who finally knew who she was and was able to make the best choices for herself. With this being a self discovery book, I was worried about being bored while reading due to a possible lack of dialogue and interaction with other characters. (After all, Iris was in a cabin in the woods by herself.) However, throughout the story and especially during the end, Iris suffered vivid hallucinations of other people which she interacted with while she was in the cabin. It was never disclosed why she had these hallucinations, whether it was a mental struggle, or possibly tiredness or even dehydration. The ending is somewhat up to the reader’s interpretation because it’s not explicitly written what choice Iris made at the end, which I found very interesting. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very well written and inspiring.