Pulp Reviews: Kokomo

Maria Gil reviews Kokomo by Victoria Hannan

Kokomo, a novel by Victoria Hannan tells the story of a mother and daughter dealing with grief, love and yearning while learning to see each other as more than what their imagination created. The book opens in London with Mina receiving the news that her agoraphobic mother in Melbourne left the house for the first time after twelve years. In 24 hours, Mina finds herself back in her childhood home to find that her mother, Elaine, refuses to explain why she finally left the house.

While back in Melbourne, Mina revisits her old friends; this allowed for the narrative to weave the past and the present to give us a deeper understanding of Mina’s character and her failure to process  her father’s death. Mina’s experience mirrors her mother’s as she also struggles with agoraphobic tendencies even though she does not realise it at first. 

Hannan examines the parts of adulthood that usually are omitted from narratives about growing up — grief, moving on and seeing your parents as humans. Mina’s pain was embedded in sad anger — at her father’s death, her reclusive mother, at the world for forcing her to become a caretaker too early and sexism in the workplace.

When we reach Elaine’s side of the story, the reader is shown a woman that we’ve only gotten to know through scorn and discontent. In these pages, we learn that it is easy to forget the difference between love and yearning, revealing a mirror to what Mina’s life could have been if she stayed in London and pursued Jack -- Mina’s co-worker whom she thought she was in love with even though he takes advantage of Mina’s hard work. Elaine’s story elevated Kokomo, reminding the reader that the parents were individuals with stories, baggage and depth to them before they became parents.

Much like Mina’s story, Elaine is  dissatisfied with a life where she’s not sure if  she really loves her husband. We learned that Elaine had an unrequited love with someone else, who she happened to meet by chance, and remained hopeful that one day he would finally return the same love back.

Both mother and daughter long to be needed by someone; their perspectives made the novel impressively powerful.

This Australian novel has the heart to become a classic in literature: it explores the issues  that concern women living  in a patriarchal world.

This book was given to me by Hachette Australia in exchange for an honest review all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Pages: 300

Publication Date: 28 July 2020

RRP: $32.99 AUD

Personal Rating: 4.5/5