MY THOUGHTS
This book is very touching. It's not a thriller or a historical. It's a women's fiction and full of raw emotion. Things to make you think and things to make you thankful that there are such good people in this world.
This is the story of Isabel. She's a chaplain in the hospital who is on suspension. It's actually a few stories in one. The main one being Isabel and her sister. It's the story of a sister's love that is so strong. Isabel will do anything for her younger sister Chantel. And Chantel will do the same for Isabel. They are that close. Chantel is a traveling nurse who is gone quite a bit. Isabel only goes to work and home. She's had a trauma that leaves her almost helpless. She just can't seem to get out anymore and do things. She's lost her friends and is estranged from her parents. The only person she talks to or sees is Chantel.
Then there is the part about Opal. Opal is eighty-eight years old and suffering from dementia. While on suspension for the summer Isabel becomes Opal's caregiver. She's hired by Opal's daughter to just be there for Opal and do things for her and with her. She meets Opal's grandson Evan who gives her a hard time at first. Together though they make life for Opal a bit happier. A bit more exciting. They do things with her that are just for fun. Opal loves Isabel and always looks forward to seeing her.
This is a very tender book if you will. It tells us what dementia does to a person. It tells us what anxiety and mental illness does to a person. Things that are so much out of our control. Many don't understand that anxiety is so debilitating. It leaves you so helpless. Dementia leaves families helpless. It has to be horrible watching a person you love forgetting you and the people around them. I admire anyone that takes care of others that suffer from dementia or any other disease. It takes a strong person to have the strength to do that. To give up their life for someone else. To put their life on hold. I truly honor people like that. They are angels for sure.
This book has many emotions in it. Most are tears but there are also some laughs along the way. There is a touch of a love story involved and a family finding their way back to each other. Friends found again. So many changes are made. All for the better. I admire Isabel for what all she went through and overcame. For all the struggles she had and all the love she had to give for an old lady. To be there and help Opal the way she did. This book touched my heart. It gave me pause in many ways. Many times.
This is a beautifully written book. Lots going on. Lots of emotions. It keeps you turning the pages until the very end. There is a part that might catch you by surprise. I saw it coming but it sure did not take away from the story at all. It's one that will stay with me for a good while.
Thank you #NetGalley, #SarahEchavarre, #LakeUnionAuthors for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
Five huge stars and a very high recommendations. Just have lots of Kleenex ready. You will need them.
SYNOPSIS
From the author of Three More Months comes a moving novel about hope, loss, the power of memories, and the enduring bonds of family.
It’s been two years and two months since trauma shattered hospital chaplain Isabel Myles’s world. Since that day, she has stopped answering calls. She’s shut out her family, friends, and coworkers. Even her faith seems to have faded. Except for her connection with her younger sister, Chantel, Isabel copes by forgetting. Then she takes on a summer job as a home caregiver for Opal, a dementia patient who is struggling to remember.
The more invested Isabel becomes in Opal’s vanishing world—and in her devastated grandson, Evan—the more open she is to forming bonds, old and new. She reaches out to her best friend. She repairs the damage between her and her estranged parents. And with Evan she feels emotions she thought were lost forever. But the trauma Isabel’s kept buried for so long will be rediscovered too. What Isabel learns could change her life again, forever. This time, though, she won’t have to face the past alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment