What’s In A Name?
The Names by Florence Knapp is a powerful contemporary novel that consumed me from the start. It is a very unique read – one life; three names and the imagined life of a baby with each of these names. The characters and scenarios are similar but different.
What’s in a name? Our names have meanings. For some, a name will conjure up a certain type of character which one either admires or dislikes. Names have the power to produce strong responses. Our names may reflect our character.
One of the leading characters is a baby. We follow his life at various key moments. He is the boy with three names that produce a sliding doors moment. He reflects the names he has been given. “A boy called Bear is someone who will be soft and cuddly but also brave and strong.”
There is a bond between the baby and his sister who is nine years older, and also their mother. We witness the cruelty of domestic abuse. It is horrifying to see the effect on the nine-year-old daughter who learns to be invisible and already knows how to placate her father.
We see how a victim blames herself for the abuse she receives. “You did this. This is your fault, she tells herself.” It is a lie that is simply not true. She has coping mechanisms. “Her way of enduring it back then had simply been not to think, not to feel.” She removes her mind from her body. When she is hurt, it seems impossible that “the world is continuing to turn. That she is continuing to function.”
The abuse is seen by the children. “Her mother lives in a warm house and is bought clothes to wear, but she has no more money or freedom than the woman who pushes a shopping trolley… around town.” A prison of gold is still a prison. Her son “blames God too. Because surely if there is a God, He also let his mother down.” God’s heart weeps for mankind when He sees the destruction caused by the free will of man.
All the characters were well drawn and believable. My heart went out to the trio of a mother and her two children.
The Names is incredibly powerful and well written. It is also heartbreaking.
Afterword: If you, or someone you know, is affected by these themes, please seek help. Do not struggle alone.
JULIA WILSON
