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Give Me You
Four lives. Four perspectives. One web of memory, longing, and truth.
Hilda, Rose, Jake, and Seymour each tell their story in a sharp-witted matriarch defying age and irrelevance, a lifelong activist clinging to love and ideals, a fading veteran confronting the betrayals of memory, and—at last—a voice from beyond the grave. Their narratives move between present-day reckonings and vivid flashbacks to youthful summers, political awakenings, and forbidden desires that never fully fade.
In Give Me You, award-winning author Kay Sloan offers a luminous, multi-voiced novel that spans decades of love affairs, family secrets, and the shifting terrain of memory itself.
Hilda, Rose, Jake, and Seymour each tell their story in a sharp-witted matriarch defying age and irrelevance, a lifelong activist clinging to love and ideals, a fading veteran confronting the betrayals of memory, and—at last—a voice from beyond the grave. Their narratives move between present-day reckonings and vivid flashbacks to youthful summers, political awakenings, and forbidden desires that never fully fade.
In Give Me You, award-winning author Kay Sloan offers a luminous, multi-voiced novel that spans decades of love affairs, family secrets, and the shifting terrain of memory itself.
116 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 20, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 4, 2026
I read this book via Net Galley.
I rate this book 2.5 stars.
Overall, I found the novel to strike a strange tone. The short novel is broken into four chapters, each from the perspective of a different character. The four characters are interconnected and we learn more about their relationships as the book unfolds. However, by the end of the book, I did not feel that I understood any of the characters on a deeper level. I felt Sloan’s character development was lacking, and she used a lot of stock tropes. Her writing was rudimentary and stilted. And this is a small pet peeve of mine, but the excessive use of exclamation points drove me nuts.
While humorous at times, I found Sloan's writing to also be oddly...unserious considering some of the subject matter. For example, in the first chapter with Hilda, we're told about the sexual relationships she has with all of the other characters before we know much else about her. We're told of a threesome and lesbian tryst with the same levity as any other mundane detail of the character's life. It seems to be the main plot point for Hilda, and yet it's written so...casually.
Throughout Rose’s chapter, I felt disconnected from the character. Communism and political unrest was written using broad strokes. I didn't really understand Rose's motivation. Graphic sexual description was thrown in for seemingly no reason except for...shock value? In general, that was an issue I had with the book--sometimes it was hard to understand the point of any of it. Why should I care about any of these characters?
Jakes chapter was a bit more interesting because it was written from the perspective of a man with Dementia. A brighter spot in this novel.
After the slightly more engaging chapter with Jake, we’re back to a somewhat disappointing chapter through Seymour’s POV. The writing in this chapter felt especially simplified, with generic dialogue and character development. “Man, dad was crazy wasn’t he?” This was basically every other sentence.
I just kept waiting for there to be some bite to this novel, which never came. I'm glad it was a short novel.
Overall, I found the novel to strike a strange tone. The short novel is broken into four chapters, each from the perspective of a different character. The four characters are interconnected and we learn more about their relationships as the book unfolds. However, by the end of the book, I did not feel that I understood any of the characters on a deeper level. I felt Sloan’s character development was lacking, and she used a lot of stock tropes. Her writing was rudimentary and stilted. And this is a small pet peeve of mine, but the excessive use of exclamation points drove me nuts.
While humorous at times, I found Sloan's writing to also be oddly...unserious considering some of the subject matter. For example, in the first chapter with Hilda, we're told about the sexual relationships she has with all of the other characters before we know much else about her. We're told of a threesome and lesbian tryst with the same levity as any other mundane detail of the character's life. It seems to be the main plot point for Hilda, and yet it's written so...casually.
Throughout Rose’s chapter, I felt disconnected from the character. Communism and political unrest was written using broad strokes. I didn't really understand Rose's motivation. Graphic sexual description was thrown in for seemingly no reason except for...shock value? In general, that was an issue I had with the book--sometimes it was hard to understand the point of any of it. Why should I care about any of these characters?
Jakes chapter was a bit more interesting because it was written from the perspective of a man with Dementia. A brighter spot in this novel.
After the slightly more engaging chapter with Jake, we’re back to a somewhat disappointing chapter through Seymour’s POV. The writing in this chapter felt especially simplified, with generic dialogue and character development. “Man, dad was crazy wasn’t he?” This was basically every other sentence.
I just kept waiting for there to be some bite to this novel, which never came. I'm glad it was a short novel.
March 17, 2026
This is really four loosely connected stream of consciousness type monologues with the occasional bit of dialogue from peripheral characters, a format that took a minute to get used to.
Unfortunately, senior citizens Hilda, Jake, Rose and Seymour aren't particularly likeable people, (in the first chapter, Hilda willfully and deliberately pees on her adult son's sofa while at a small get-together with neighbors, friends and family). The two couples had a sort of swingers Summer wherein Hilda slept with everyone including Rose, and became pregnant with Jake's son, whom Seymour agreed to raise.
Now all in their late 70s and 80s, memories of the old days are as present as current information, in fact Hilda and Jake are living in retirement homes, Seymour is dead (his story is his ghostly farewell tour) and Rose is headed to jail.
Although the book isn't very long, I struggled to finish it because I wasn't terribly interested in these unhappy people. They all had so many regrets and resented everyone else around them. It's not fun being in that headspace for long.
Unfortunately, senior citizens Hilda, Jake, Rose and Seymour aren't particularly likeable people, (in the first chapter, Hilda willfully and deliberately pees on her adult son's sofa while at a small get-together with neighbors, friends and family). The two couples had a sort of swingers Summer wherein Hilda slept with everyone including Rose, and became pregnant with Jake's son, whom Seymour agreed to raise.
Now all in their late 70s and 80s, memories of the old days are as present as current information, in fact Hilda and Jake are living in retirement homes, Seymour is dead (his story is his ghostly farewell tour) and Rose is headed to jail.
Although the book isn't very long, I struggled to finish it because I wasn't terribly interested in these unhappy people. They all had so many regrets and resented everyone else around them. It's not fun being in that headspace for long.
March 13, 2026
I’d like to thank the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I liked it but not very much, not adored but it was a good experience to read from new, own voices. I found this novel has a little bit unusal writing style different from other kind of these books. Well, the novel or novella broken into 4 chapters with different POVs, but all the characters were interconnected, about their relationship with each. Honestly, I felt the description, and development of the characters were insufficient, and didn’t fully engage me. I kept expecting the story to build toward something more impactful, but that moment never really arrived. Still, I appreciated that it was a short novel.
I liked it but not very much, not adored but it was a good experience to read from new, own voices. I found this novel has a little bit unusal writing style different from other kind of these books. Well, the novel or novella broken into 4 chapters with different POVs, but all the characters were interconnected, about their relationship with each. Honestly, I felt the description, and development of the characters were insufficient, and didn’t fully engage me. I kept expecting the story to build toward something more impactful, but that moment never really arrived. Still, I appreciated that it was a short novel.
January 30, 2026
Sex and communism! This is very NPR-coded: four aged protagonists recall a summer of free love, its joys and consequences, challenging assumptions about the elderly by rendering here the utterly exceptional nature of their hidden lives, past and present. Quiet, assured, and absorbing with a slightly speculative twist; I’m very lucky to have found this writer, oddly, through blessed PBS! If you enjoyed Jessica Anthony’s “The Most,” this will resonate both thematically and historically.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews