Jade Is a Twisted Green
A young woman tries to come to terms with grief in Tanya Turton’s poignant novel Jade Is a Twisted Green.
After the death of her twin sister Roze at age seventeen, Jade fell into a deep, lingering depression. Because she is unable to process her emotions, her post-college years are plagued by panic attacks at the slightest hint of tenderness from strangers or mention of her sister. She finds some joy in her standing date with her best friend and reconnecting with an ex-girlfriend, but her depression continues to manifest in self-sabotaging behavior. On a celebratory trip out of the country, Jade has a transcendental experience that catapults her into a new stage of self examination and growth.
Roze, and the space she left behind, is a looming presence. She was the glue that held Jade together. Since her death, Jade has been unmoored. She goes through the motions. Her jobs are part-time. She pulls back from every relationship when a partner gets serious. She sets aside time on the weekends to write and cry, but avoids the causes of her tears. Jade’s vulnerability is aching with potential if only she could see past her grief.
This is as much a story about the people around Jade as it is about her. Because of her, the story delves into the backgrounds of her best friend, her ex-girlfriend, her ex-boyfriend, and Roze. Their chapters lend depth to Jade’s experiences. The tonal shift between the Jade before vacation and the Jade that returns is almost too clean, though made believable because of the character work leading up to and continuing through it. She is renewed, confronting her pain and moving through it to find peace.
Jade Is a Twisted Green is an emotional novel about grief and connection in all of their manifestations.
Reviewed by
Dontaná McPherson-Joseph
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