Mony 30/03/2021What can we take(and learn) from grief, depression and the tragic? Eddie (or Edward) shows us!I must admit I was not expecting much from this book. What I expected was a sad, cheesy story, that would make me cry showing a context where the story is based. The only reason I did not give this one 5 stars was because I found the writing style really tiring. I felt as if the writer was postponing what she really wanted to happen, so we could "watch" Edward grow up.
Guess what, Ann? That was not really necessary. As I was reading it, I wanted to finish the book, but I also figured by half of the book that if I did not finish the read, it would be fine, because I was not really curious about what happened next. Perhaps I am just not the target audience and that is why the book did not please me as much as it should.
Despite the whole twelve-year-old-boy-surviving-the-accident-drama, there was so much more to it than I would ever think. The author managed to go deep into the boy's (Eddie - who became Edward after the accident) feelings and grief, without showing everything so in-depth to some extent that you can see what is happening, but do not really feel it all as the story goes on. This is both a benefit and a disadvantage. I usually find not going so deep into feelings a bad aspect, but for this book, it turned out to be something good, otherwise you would cry from the first pages until the end.
I did cry, though. Likewise, I felt sad, but it was just something on the last 40-ish pages, and it was really likely to happen, thinking about the way the story was being directed.
Edward shows feelings we can all relate to. Apart from the fact that he is a child, he is very mature and I believe all readers learned something from that. We're all going through a lot of shit, constantly, but the way we deal with things is what makes everything (and everyone) better.
More than that, I am thankful for the Shays (and other important characters, but mostly Shays) we all have in life. The impact of someone who is just there for us without asking for anything in return is extraordinary.