They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but we all do it sometimes, don’t we? Sometimes a book turns out to be something totally different from what we were expecting, and this week’s pick was one of those for me. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but Fran Fabriczki’s debut novel, “Porcupines,” turned out to be a completely delightful, sharp and heartwarming read.
Set across Budapest, Washington, D.C., and sunny Los Angeles, this beautiful story explores the complicated but incredibly loving relationship between a fiercely independent single mother, Sonia, and her wildly curious 11-year-old daughter, Mila.
Sonia is a Hungarian immigrant who has spent years building a carefully constructed life in early 2000s Los Angeles. She is warm but undeniably prickly, keeping her past locked away behind a wall of silence. She refuses to share details about her childhood or, most importantly, the identity of Mila’s father.
Sonia believes their close bond, fueled by drive-through dinners and plenty of exasperated affection, is enough. But Mila is growing up and beginning to push back against her mother’s strict rule of secrecy.
The story kicks into high gear when Mila discovers hidden emails between her mother and a mysterious man she has never met. Convinced he is her father, Mila orchestrates a clever “Parent Trap”-style scheme, using an upcoming school orchestra trip to San Francisco to force her reluctant mother to chaperone.
From there, the narrative beautifully moves back and forth in time, contrasting Mila’s quest for the truth with Sonia’s own backstory. We learn about Sonia arriving in California as an 18-year-old in 1989, just as communism is collapsing back home.
She struggles to understand her sister Rina’s sudden embrace of Orthodox Judaism, which clashes with their family’s secular identity and history as Holocaust survivors. As Sonia navigates her complicated past and fears surrounding her uncertain immigration status, Mila’s scheme forces both of them to confront everything they have been avoiding.
Fabriczki does a wonderful job showing how these two characters are like the porcupines of the title — spiky and defensive on the outside, but incredibly soft and vulnerable underneath. It is a funny, brilliant and deeply moving exploration of what it means to be an immigrant, how generational trauma shapes us and how difficult it can be to truly feel at home.
By the end of this wonderful adventure, Sonia is forced to realize that keeping secrets might protect you for a while, but eventually you have to lower your quills and let the people you love truly see you.
I hope you find this book to be the same pleasant surprise I did. Don’t forget to pop over to my Instagram, @allison.the.reader, for more book recommendations and book talk!
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