August Reads: A Subtle Month
This month sadly I was only able to get through two books but given that I was doing a lot of moving around and adjusting to my new home, I am going to let it slide. While I enjoyed the books I read this month, they weren’t the most captivating. However, they both have significant themes that I think may interest some of you so I’d like to share them.
Who Do You Love
“Who Do You Love” by Jennifer Weiner begins with two children, Rachel Blum and Andy Landis, meeting in the hospital and instantly forming a connection. They bump into each other years later and end up going through some phases of life together, entering and leaving each other’s lives at times. While I did really enjoy reading this book, in some ways I found it anticlimactic. In the end, I felt like there should be this big moment and kept anticipating it but it never came. I really enjoy the theme of the book though. It’s about the passage of time and the way that people influence each other. It definitely makes me think about the ways that people and certain instances have influenced me, as well as the way that I’ve influenced other people.
The Lovely Bones
“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold has a very captivating introduction. The protagonist, Susie, is raped and murdered as a 14-year-old girl and then goes on to watch over her family, friends, and murderer from Heaven. Similar to “Who Do You Love”, I felt that there wasn’t much of a climax to this book. To me, it seemed like there were three different mini-climaxes and when they came I kept thinking that the author could have done so much more with that plot. Also similar though, I really like the theme of this novel. While many different themes are present in the book, the one that stuck with me the most was the theme of grief. Susie watches her family and friends grieve her from Heaven and can see how grief keeps the characters from growing and building connections. At some point though, they must move on and it’s Susie’s death that is the cause for so many characters in her life to be the way that they are. She’s the reason for the way that their lives have ended up the way that they did, she’s the bones. Overall, I think that the story comes together nicely in the end but it still wasn’t the most entrapping book.
Both of these novels are written beautifully and are extremely unique stories. I’m glad that I got a chance to read them and explore the themes that they offer. If either of these novels sounds interesting to you, I recommend you read them! The Amazon link to these books is attached on the photos 🙂
I enjoyed Lovely Bones too. Wouldn’t it be great if after death we could follow those we love and maybe send spirits to help them when needed?