Book Review: Family Comes in all Shapes and Sizes

Finding Yvonne, by Brandy Colbert, explores the dynamics between family and finding your own path. The protagonist, Yvonne, is beginning to fall out of love with the violin, after her personal teacher of 11 years quit on her for not having enough talent. This event spirals to Yvonne wondering who she is at all. After a stroll on the boardwalk, she is drawn to a violinist named Omar, despite being in a developing relationship with her father’s sous chef, Warren. Yvonne, without a clear path to her future, spends more time dwelling on her mother, who abandoned her when she was a child. Without her emotionally-distant father to guide her, she is completely lost. There is only her own determination to find her path.

I thought that Finding Yvonne was a very good book. The characters were all unique and I cared a lot about them. Yvonne has a very capturing tone of voice that makes you want to never put her story down. The author has such a pleasing way of describing things. She once describes Warren’s eyes as “tea-colored” and it’s such a refresher from how eyes are often described. I had never heard of eyes being described this way, so that little piece of imagery resonated with me.

After a huge disruption in plans, Yvonne is faced with the realization that she doesn’t know what she wants to do in her life. Her father’s old mentor, Lou, takes her under his wing when she discovers a hidden talent in herself, buried under the parental baggage.

In addition to Brandy Colbert displaying the tribulations of finding and putting your passions to use, she also excellently writes about the different family dynamics. Yvonne grew up without her mother, and rarely with her father. Warren’s father left when he was two years old, and his mother had to support the family. Yvonne’s best friend, Sabina, has two moms who are like the mother figures Yvonne never had. Colbert manages to successfully create the dynamics of the different kinds of family. The kind you’re always searching for, the kind of always had, and the kind you find along the way. After all, family and blood are two different things.

I give Finding Yvonne a 9/10 for creatively telling the story of the winding path of life. Plans don’t always go as you want them to, and knowing who you are is a journey in it of itself. I would recommend this book to anyone who is struggling to find themselves. In time, your identity may become clearer and clearer.