This was another beautiful story. It was so much different from The Covenant of Water that at first I think I had to get used to the storyline. It all grew on me, though. The depiction of the sisters and their deep bonds, the love Charlie had for his daughters (and they for him) and the way Izzy and the others welcomed Alice in immediately, as if they had known each other for years... those bonds touched me. As did the scenes with William surrounded by his tall, quiet friends... flanking his side as they walked to the super duplex on the worst day of his life. And showing up at the basketball court - just to sit beside him. I felt the weight of each of these relationships... including the broken ones. Having gone through fractures in some of my own important relationships I could feel the despair and heartache, and also the anger and confusion the author wrote about so well.
This book was all about relationships - those that work and feed us and help us be who we are. And those that break and do damage and leave scars. Sometimes we experience full healing and sometimes we don’t.
I liked this book because it felt quite ‘real’. It depicted a large family with warts and all... loving, supportive, ‘there for you’, but those same people can also be critical and disappointing. The relationship between the 4 girls was very believable. And you felt their love and concern for one another - an ‘us against the world’ mentality at times. The friction that occurred in their relationships also felt real, though... and well written.
I remember Mama saying when she attended her first family reunion with my Daddy that she thought to herself, ‘Are these people for real??’ They were all laughing and talking and clearly enjoying one another’s company and she had never experienced anything like that before in her life. Her family was not this way at all. She realized that indeed they WERE like that! It was very real. And again, that didn’t mean it was all roses, but you knew that this group of folks would have your back when it came down to it - no matter how annoyed you might be with one another at any given time. The scenes at the end where Alice finds herself in a room surrounded by so much ‘love and grief’ that it was all palpable reminded me of my Mama’s stories. And felt so real.
I also loved the depiction of male friendship in this book. That is something that doesn’t often make its way to the pages of a book... or really anywhere. Even in ‘real life’ male friendships can be harder to find and define and yet they are so powerful (when done well). There were several scenes where Kent would alert other members of the team that William needed their support and they would simply ‘show up’. Either at a basketball court to quietly sit with him or when he needed support in the hardest of situations... they would arrive. Another scene near the end that touched me was when Kent and William were walking along the sidewalk heading to the ‘super-duplex’ and suddenly 2 more guys appear and step in alongside them. Then shortly after that Aresh climbs out of a car along their route and joins in with all. They were surrounding William with love and support - literally and figuratively. And it was a powerful moment that made me tear up. I know friendship for men can just be harder to attain than it seems to for women. This book showed the power of male friendship and also ‘how’ to do it well.
I rated this book 4.5 stars. Reading Circle rated it 3.9.
