Take What You Need is such a uniquely intriguing novel! It takes the raw and brutal honesty of two strong female voices and tells a story of reverence, passion, relationship and heartache.

The story is told from the perspective of two main POV’s: Jean and Leah.

Jean is Leah’s stepmother, but left Leah’s father when Leah was only 9 years old. Their relationship has since been strained at best and non-existent at worst. Jean’s efforts to contact Leah in the years after she left were thwarted by Leah’s father. He tells Leah this is for the best, and she will be happy that Jean is no longer her stepmother. Time passes, Leah grows up and moves away. Jean remains right where she is and always has been, living in the ruins of a decaying house, surrounded by dilapidated and abandoned homes, deep within the Allegheny Mountains.

Jean: Jean is a unique, brutally honest “what you see is what you get” type of person. Her inner dialogue is the most entertaining I have read in a long time! She is funny, strange, and flat out entertaining. In her years since leaving Leah’s father, Jean has long tried to fill the void in her heart from missing Leah. She has done so with the most outlandish approach to Art. Jean began forging her emotions into welded medal frameworks that now crowd her living room. We listen and watch as Jean’s passion becomes obsession and her life unravels into these abstract creations, Manglements, as she calls them.

Leah: Leah is now grown, living in New York with her husband and young son. She has long since removed Jean from her life, scorn from Jean’s abandonment of her when she was just a child. Leah tries to replace the memories of Jean with different pieces of her life, and avoids pulling on those strings of her past at all costs. Until a phone call from a strange man, claiming to have been living with Jean for some time. This phone call compels Leah to return to her childhood hometown and open up a door she closed a long time ago.

Leah’s PoV is told in a calmer tone and offers balance to the chaos we receive from Jean. That said, I MUCH preferred the chapters from Jean. Leah seemed a bit uptight and overreactive through much of the novel. While Leah was not quite as enjoyable as listening to Jean’s ranting and raving about her Manglement creations, Leah was needed to help the story move forward.

The novel did move forward at a good pace. There were backflashes and jumps in time as we learn more about how both characters reached their current status. These jumps were done incredibly tastefully and added much color to the story.

This novel was an easy read and I flew through it in just a few days. It was a novel that could offer a deeper meaning or life lessons, if you looked for it. You could say this novel could bring to light the complications of a death of a loved one, the heartache of things left unsaid. You could say this novel could highlight the complications of extended family and dealing with the loss of a broken family and missing relationships. You could say this novel might compel you to follow your passion, no matter what others may think or say. You could say this novel illustrates the poverty and regression of the Allegheny Mountains Region, and their need of the country’s assistance. You could say these things.

Or, you could read the novel strictly for its entertainment aspects. You could simply take in this beautifully written, incredibly unique perspective on two women’s estranged relationship, and find value in that. A simple fiction novel that reaches its audience in a purely magnificent manner. I loved it.

In terms of fiction, looking to jump into the life and relationships of someone else, this checks the boxes. I’ll definitely be looking for other books by Idra Novey! Her writing style was a highlight of this book!