Source: I
received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my
own.
If you are
looking for a great book, one that will tug at your heartstrings then look no
further. This is a story that could have been ripped right out of the
headlines. It is told through three points of view. First we have Teddy, the
son and survivor of a horrible accident. He is dealing with survivor’s guilt
because he was at the wheel when a drunk
driver hit them killing his father. Then we have his mother Mary who is trying
to hold it all together for the sake of her three children, help her son “deal”
with the accident while feeling she is being guided by her husband to make
decisions that will affect them all. Finally there is Rosetta, the girlfriend from the past, a past
that frowned on blacks and whites dating.
All three of them deal with grief in their own way.
There are several
things I found amusing. Whenever Teddy comes upon a situation he immediately sees
a headline. His first friend is a girl
he has to share a locker with. Mindy is very unusual. She had one best friend
who moved away. She remembers the weirdest, random facts and they seem to pop
out at the most inopportune times. But
Mindy really was a character I loved.
The author did
a great job of showing realistically how death can tear a family apart, while
at the same time showing that it doesn’t mean we lose our memories of the one
who died. She also showed the process
that grief takes and how it is different for each person. The steps to
getting back on their feet and learning to live life again was so
realistic. I have only one warning for
you. Do NOT go into this book without a box of tissues. This is a great way to start off my new year
of reading. Definitely a book I will recommend to everyone. There are life
lessons for all. It is such a clean read that I believe it is a book I will put
on my shelves at school, because it seems every year I find one student who
experiences a death in their family and maybe what they learn by reading Teddy’s
side of the story will help them.
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