I thought it might be pertinent to this blog to post about my good intentions of reading. I have LOADS of books that I have every intention of reading, but for every one book I read, I buy another three. This has become a slight issue for space, and a slight hoarding problem.
THIS is my "Books to Read" shelf. You will notice on the bottom shelf that you can see a layer of books BEHIND the ones you can see. I don't even want to think about how many books are on this shelf. Many I have had for several years -- I am pretty sure there are some that I bought in my Coles days that are still on this shelf... I should also note that this does not even include most of the Kids and Young Adult titles that I have as well, they are still in a box from when we moved.
So... I have good intentions. Remember that...
~*~
They say there are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth. In Before I Wake, debut novelist Robert J. Wiersema cleverly introduces a multitude of voices to tell this astonishing story of loss, redemption and forgiveness. And the truth? Well, when miracles start happening around Sherry Barrett, a three-year-old girl in a coma, explanations of a rational kind no longer seem important.
Injured by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street, Sherry Barrett lies in a hospital where her doctors say she will never wake up. Her distraught parents, Karen and Simon, make the painful decision to take her off life support. But when they do, Sherry spontaneously begins breathing on her own, the first of many miraculous events to occur.
Henry Denton, the driver who struck Sherry, is haunted by the accident and attempts to take his own life, only to be saved by an unexplained force. Sherry’s nurse discovers that the little girl has the power to heal. When word of her gift leaks, the sick begin lining up to be saved and a mysterious stranger sets his sights on vanquishing the believers and the Barretts.
Before I Wake delicately brings together grandiose leaps of faith with the fragility of every day moments. There’s a fly-on-the-wall quality in Wiersema’s observations, as his realistically flawed characters struggle with guilt, self-loathing and belief while they go about their daily lives. The novel’s fractured narrative style is propulsive and unexpected at every turn, and succeeds in raising questions about times of great faith, and what happens when they happen to the most unlikely of people.
“I believe in miracles — we see them around us all the time,” Wiersema says. “I believe in not having the answers, in there being forces beyond our understanding.”
Injured by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street, Sherry Barrett lies in a hospital where her doctors say she will never wake up. Her distraught parents, Karen and Simon, make the painful decision to take her off life support. But when they do, Sherry spontaneously begins breathing on her own, the first of many miraculous events to occur.
Henry Denton, the driver who struck Sherry, is haunted by the accident and attempts to take his own life, only to be saved by an unexplained force. Sherry’s nurse discovers that the little girl has the power to heal. When word of her gift leaks, the sick begin lining up to be saved and a mysterious stranger sets his sights on vanquishing the believers and the Barretts.
Before I Wake delicately brings together grandiose leaps of faith with the fragility of every day moments. There’s a fly-on-the-wall quality in Wiersema’s observations, as his realistically flawed characters struggle with guilt, self-loathing and belief while they go about their daily lives. The novel’s fractured narrative style is propulsive and unexpected at every turn, and succeeds in raising questions about times of great faith, and what happens when they happen to the most unlikely of people.
“I believe in miracles — we see them around us all the time,” Wiersema says. “I believe in not having the answers, in there being forces beyond our understanding.”
This book has a lot of aspects that contribute to a very captivating novel. There is a clear divide of good and evil, there are characters that I loved and hated, a fantastic storyline and there is always hope, and hope seems to be a very central theme to this novel.
All and all, it wasn't really a book that was aimed at me. I didn't read the back of this book before I read it, I just went on other's recommendations. I probably wouldn't have read it if I had read the description that is printed above. This book is really aimed at a Christian audience. In fact, I would say that it is basically a Christian Fiction novel. I am pretty agnostic, so this book was a little hard for me to swallow.
That being said, if all of the Jesus-y, Christian Myth stuff was taken out of it, it probably would be one of my favourite books. It has an excellent writing style and story telling ability. Many of the characters were flawed, but there was enough good things about them, or good people to balance out the bad that it didn't make me hate the book, like I have with others. I enjoyed the perspective on afterlife that wasn't completely rooted in Christian myth. I cried at a few parts (which is always a sign of a good book) that were totally family related. It had a happy ending, which is something I generally prefer. It really was an entertaining read and I would recommend it to others with the disclaimer of the religion stuff.
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