Three families living vastly different lives are bound together by common threads weaving through their hopes, joys, and heartaches. Irene married Chuck to escape her rural family roots and while their life begins with hope, it quickly descends into unimaginable tragedy. Gavin is a restless young man trying to find his own purpose in the world, but soon discovers that his path may not be so far from home and family. Columba’s life has always been a tapestry of hard work and little-to-no money, but her biggest obstacles are yet to come when her daughter disappears & her livelihood is threatened. These very different families will be connected by the tender threads of life and death while also showing us that love knows no boundaries.

This was an interesting book. I must admit it took me a few chapters to get into the stories, but once they got rolling I wanted to see what happened to everyone. ( )

THREADS

Edie Ayala

THREADS, the title of the book has more than one meaning. In the most obvious case, it refers to fabrics and yarns. The second case is the intertwining of three people: Irene, the reluctant wife of a merchant in Canada who desperately wants a child; Columba, a poor woman in Chile who struggles to support herself and her son; and Gavin, a young man in a small town in Canada trying to find himself. By the end of the book, their lives intertwine.
Irene, who feels her husband is too controlling, eventually has a daughter. Sadly, the child dies and she enters into a long, deep depression. Eventually, she turns to yarn, buying them and collecting skeins of them. She then begins knitting and crocheting amazing sweaters for her deceased daughter. The collection of them fills the house and eventually her husband sends them to a charity which is supposed to donate used clothing to poor people in South America.
Columba worked in a bank and part time sorting out clothing for a company that received donated clothing. Recycled clothing was a new, very popular trend in her country. The bosses, however, looked at the clothes as a business opportunity, not a charity, and took the best items to sell in his own stores. They also paid themselves before paying the workers. Many of the donated items were discarded or trashed.
After four years at that company, she asked for and was refused a raise. The boss treated her like she was below contempt. Basically an honest person, she decided to take some of the donated items because other workers were doing so and she realized she could sell the better ones herself and earn more money. She also began collecting discarded items from piles along the roadside.
Gavin, had gotten a mail-order private investigator license in hopes of finding a career and please his father who owned a men’s and boy’s clothing store. Since everyone in town already knew everyone else’s business, his career choice wasn’t working. After his father died, Gavin took over the store, with the help of his father’s assistant. It turned out that Gavin had a gift for distinct items and attracting a wider market.
In an attempt to get Irene out of her depression, Irene’s husband decided to take her sweaters and donate them to a charity for needy people in South America. Some of them ended up in Columba’s company. She took one of them for her son and it became very special to her.
Realizing their value, Gavin was able to get almost all of Irene’s sweaters and was making a very good profit selling them.
And then Irene realized that her sweaters were gone and other people were buying them.
The results were catastrophic.
Edie Ayala’s THREADS is presented in chapters alternating between the three main characters and a few people close to them. It exposes the corruption in the recycled, donated clothing industry though I don’t know how wide-spread it is.
It describes the lives and communities of the people involved, especially those in South America and, at one point the corruption in the Catholic Church: ‘[there were decades] of corruption in the church followers blamed themselves because they were lowly sinners, and what did they know?...The church hierarchy harvested the fruits of their labors and made it possible for Progresso’s clergy of today to live in comfort and security.”
The connections among the main characters takes awhile to become obvious, but it does make sense. Ayala offers philosophic observations, especially through Gavin, and has some delightful observations: “She tucked snippets of conversation behind her ears like cigarettes, that she might pluck them out later, and leisurely draw on them.”
I received a review copy of THREADS from LibraryThing. ( )

THREADS was very interesting. I had a little difficulty, at first, following who was who. Soon, I wanted the individual chapters to be longer because I was really getting into their storylines and, too soon (IMHO) we were switched to another character.

I really liked how they all ended up having something to do with the others’ stories and I think the author did a great job getting us there. It surely wasn’t obvious at first, but that was the fun of finding out how they were going to come together.

Being a knitter myself, I found it interesting to learn more about Irene and her obsession. The author’s way of bringing her in and out with her change in personality was intriguing. I had never thought of the recycle business being anyway like what was drawn for us. It makes me think harder about what’s really going on and it will now affect my decision making. ( )

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It's just so darn sad! The character who drives the story with her beautiful sweaters, Irene, is recovering from the unexpected death of her only child. Maybe SIDS? Although she is a main character, I don't really have a strong sense of who she is, other than depressed. Her husband cares, but doesn't know how to help her, so he doesn't. Instead he makes things worse. One of her sweaters makes it to Chile, by mistake in a discard bin.
The first half of the book sets up the characters, and it is a slog. I don't really feel I know the characters, even though I know a lot about them. Many of the chapters start with a couple of sort of philosophical paragraphs that don't really advance the story and to me, were mostly confusing. The second half of the book is more about the sweaters, but I found it depressing, although the magic of the sweaters was perhaps the best part.
The woman in Chile, Columba, is perhaps the most interesting character, I was rooting for her, even though again, I didn't really feel I knew her.The references to abuse by Catholic priests is both blunt and veiled, and doesn't really add to the the story.
I suppose the theme for me is that there is all this terribly sad, abusive, immoral stuff going on, and. plenty of mental illness, and everyone just looks the other way. Maybe that's reality. I just wished there was a little more magic and a little more hope. ( )

Disclaimer: I received this book as an Early Reviewer. No compensation was given other than the chance to read this work.

This is the interwoven story between a clothing store owner in Canada, a Canadian woman who is obsessed with wool, and a Chilean woman who sorts through 'donated' clothing that is dumped by the ton into the Chilean markets.

I really wanted to like this book better than I did, but... The woman who was obsessed with wool at one point is described as entering a store and licking the wool on the displays. The plot sort of meanders for two out of the three main characters, and the secondary characters had some promise, but their storylines sort of tailed off as well.

Some readers may find it hard to connect with the character Irene (Canadian wool obsessive), as her storyline manages to make her more and more unlikeable as the novel progresses.

Recommended for: Those who enjoy something more offbeat, who are not afraid of the unlikability of main characters, or those who want to learn more about what happens to clothes you drop off in those "donate your old wardrobe for our future!" bins. ( )