This post contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you. Your support helps sustain independent bookstores and keeps this blog going.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free digital review copy.
Narcissi by Babette Fraser Hale
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Pages: 280
Rating: ★★★★★
Buy: Bookshop.org
This post contains spoilers.
Book Blurb
Cole Burnett, a Texas writer, is the kind of man whose need for freedom should send women running in the opposite direction. But he has a lanky charisma and the gift of listening, rare enough at any time but especially in the 1980’s.
The women he encounters in NARCISSI, a novel-in-stories, find his attention compelling and everyone gets hurt. But hurt is never the whole story.
Each woman brings her own complicated life into her time with Cole–conflicts with husbands, traumas survived, needs postponed, children. And children grow up.
Burnett understands that loneliness compels him toward the women he meets, but there’s something in his blood pushing him to keep moving, write more, achieve more. Later, after the death threat, travelling becomes a way to stay alive.
My Thoughts
I loved this book! I haven’t read too many novel-in-story format books, but I found it incredibly interesting how we kept seeing snippets of different people’s lives over time and how Cole Burnett affected each of them. It was fascinating to see how one person can leave such a lasting impression on so many lives, sometimes without even realizing the extent of the impact they’ve had.
Cole is a complicated character. He’s sensitive and clearly doesn’t want to hurt anyone, yet he inevitably does. He’s also a bit of a coward when it comes to confrontation, often avoiding difficult conversations even when addressing things head-on could save everyone years of heartache. Despite this, I never found myself disliking him. If anything, I think he represents something very human: we can try our best to do right by others and still hurt them along the way. We’re all flawed, and those imperfections are part of life. It’s not something we can simply avoid.
I felt bad for Cole by the end, as well as for some of the women he negatively affected throughout his life, but there was also a sense of hope woven into his story. In the midst of his second divorce, he found a love that lasted for the remainder of his life. There’s something beautiful about the idea that even after making mistakes, hurting people, and spending years getting things wrong, there’s still time to find happiness and experience lasting love.
I also really appreciated that Cole is an older main character. He is middle-aged at the beginning, but the novel follows him through many years. We don’t always get to see older characters take center stage in novels, especially characters who are still figuring themselves out and navigating the consequences of their past. Cole’s story reminded me that life doesn’t stop being complicated as we get older, and that there’s still room for growth, forgiveness, and love in our sunset years.
The writing itself was incredibly easy to get into. The chapters are fairly short, and the story flows beautifully, making it easy to get sucked in and keep reading. I also found myself wanting to learn more about Cole and the people he met throughout his travels. Each glimpse into someone else’s life left me curious about what happened next and how their experiences connected to his.
And then there’s the title. It took me until the very last line to fully understand Narcissi, and I love when a book does that. Sometimes, everything suddenly comes together in a single moment, and you find yourself looking back at the entire story a little differently. That final realization was a beautiful way to bring the book together.
Final Thoughts
Narcissi by Babette Fraser Hale is a thoughtful, beautifully written novel about the ways we affect one another, the mistakes we make despite our best intentions, and the possibility of finding love and forgiveness later in life. Through Cole Burnett and the people whose lives he touches, the novel explores the complicated reality of being human: we will hurt people, we will make mistakes, and we won’t always get things right. What matters is how we choose to live with those imperfections and whether we allow them to keep us from moving forward.
I especially loved the novel-in-story format, the short, engaging chapters, and the focus on an older protagonist still finding his way through life. This is a book that left me with a sense of hope, reminding me that it’s never too late to find love, make peace with the past, or embrace the life still ahead of you. If you enjoy character-driven fiction that explores human relationships and the lasting impact we have on others, I highly recommend picking this one up.
Pick up a copy of ‘Narcissi’ and explore this thoughtful, character-driven story about the lasting impact we have on others, the mistakes we make, and the hope of finding love and forgiveness later in life. Buy it on Bookshop.org and support both independent bookstores and the blog at this same time.
Check out Contemporary Fiction Reviews:
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Love what you’re reading here? Support the blog and fuel my next cozy reading session by buying me a coffee.
Leave a Reply