By Caroline Leavitt
The story is about two women, April and Isabelle. April is unhappily married to Charlie, with a young asthmatic child, named Sam.
Isabelle, married very young. She wanted to pursue a degree in photography. But instead she works in a photography studio. Whats worse is Luke, her husband got a another woman pregnant. Through all this Isabelle wants more from life, than this.
Both women are on a collision course. Both women are on a different path. Their lives intersect on a foggy road. Their lives, are on a collision course, literally. April is killed, April's son Sam survives the accident.
The story is multi layered about all kinds of relationships. Relationships of mothers, fathers, friends, acquaintances, lovers, and friendships. It also raises the question about guilt and forgiveness.
The story was a fast read, what I would call a beach read. It was a faced paced novel with lots of what if's and could have and would haves. It was hard to put this novel down. There were many unexplained events that you find out about later on in the book. You don't find out till much later why April was out that foggy night.
I like how the author kept us in suspense about this till much later. It was a great technique. If we found out earlier in the book, I am sure the story would have been" so what".
The one part I will say, I am glad that Isabelle came to her senses. She kept rushing to Charlie's side. Charlie did not want her there. He only wanted her when it was convenient for him. I was like, stop beating a dead horse. Leave him already.. Thank g-d she came to her senses.
She was offered a scholarship from a college in NYC. She finally was pursuing her dream and no one and nothing was finally going to get in her way, not even guilt( love of Sam or Charlie).
Charlie, was so wimpy at this point he did not know what he wanted. One minute he wanted Isabelle, the next he was conflicting about his love of his wife, April. By then it was too late.
Some parts of the story I felt sorry for him. Because I think genuinely, he was scared that he would loose his son. But, I think part he was just using his son's illness as a excuse.
These are the few things that bothered me about the book. Really, do you really think that a Charlie would have a relationship with Isabelle( the woman that caused the accident). I had to keep telling myself this is fiction. This did make a good story though.
I don't think it was necessary to fast forward to Sam as a adult. The meeting was unbelievable I felt. I don't know any man that kept going over blame and guilt several times.
My comment, to that end I still enjoyed reading this The depth of character was very multi layered. There would be lots to discuss for a book club, even though I felt it was a beach read.
Thanks for reading and stopping by,
1 comment:
I enjoyed this book, but had a few qualms with it, too. I thought it was strange that Sam was given so much freedom right after his mother died.
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