Tag: Review

Review: My Husband the Stranger by Rebecca Done

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husband

What if it’s not a marriage anymore? What if your husband isn’t who you married?

About the Book

Publisher’s description: A tragic accident. A terrible injury. And in a moment the man you fell in love with – that sweet, caring, charming man – is transformed into a total stranger. One who snarls and one who shouts. And one who doesn’t seem to love you very much at all anymore. You swore to love each other in sickness and in health, but how would you cope? What would you do? And would you be strong enough to stay?

My Review

After several years together, Molly’s husband, Alex, has a terrible fall resulting in severe brain injury that leaves him psychologically changed from the man she married, effectively a “stranger”.  The book contrasts their life beforehand with the daily struggle to maintain their relationship after Alex’s injury.

I felt the author couldn’t quite make up her mind whether the novel was intended to be an insightful account of the impact of serious brain injury on a relationship, an “against the odds” romance or a psychological thriller. In the end, for me, it didn’t really satisfy completely in any of these respects. The strongest element was definitely the description of the day-to-day toll on a relationship of caring for a partner who has been changed physically and psychologically by brain injury. The author did a good job of conveying Molly’s conflicted feelings – sympathy and love for her husband but also rage, regret and frustration at the position she finds herself in – and the mental and physical burden of caring for a person with limited hope of full recovery. There are some touching moments that seem grounded in the reality of living with someone whose symptoms can change from day to day, hour to hour: “Just when I think I have totally lost him, for a few precious moments I always find him again.” I found the sections detailing Alex and Molly’s relationship before his accident a little cheesy; everything was a bit too perfect – Alex himself, their wedding, their life together before his accident. However I appreciate the author was probably trying to build up a picture of what Molly has lost to explain why she wants to stick with Alex and hold on to the hope of an eventual recovery. I found the mystery introduced towards the end of the book rather underwhelming and the reveal a little predictable. To my mind the author came perilously close to “good twin/evil twin” cliché in the characterisation of Alex and his brother, Graeme.

This was an enjoyable read with an interesting premise but I didn’t find it completely successful.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Penguin, in return for an honest review,

Book facts: 480 pages, publication date 6th April 2017

My rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

In three words: Emotional, insightful, uneven

Try something similar…for a really compelling account of dealing with illness, I recommend Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

About the Author

Rebecca Done studied Creative Writing at the Norwich School of Art & Design and then worked for several years as a magazine editor. Currently a copywriter, Rebecca is also a keen runner, fair-weather surfer and one-time marathon canoeist. This is her second novel.

Book Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

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monster

Heartbreaking tale about facing up to your worst fears

About the Book

Description (courtesy of Goodreads): ‘The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.’ But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming… This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.

Book Facts

  • Format: Hardback
  • Publisher: Walker Books
  • No. of pages: 216
  • Publication date: 27th September 2011
  • Genre: Children’s Fiction

My Review (5 out of 5)

This is a book I shall remember for a long time that works on so many different levels. Yes, it’s categorised as a book for children and the way the story is told is accessible for a child. In the edition I read, the wonderful illustrations add to this accessibility. But the fact that it has also been embraced by adults is testament to the skill of the writer in communicating a message to which anyone who has ever faced the actuality or prospect of loved one can relate.

It seems to me the monster represents Conor’s fears and anger about his mother’s illness and the prospect of losing her that he finds so hard to face. But also his guilt that he can’t save her and guilt at the agonising ‘truth’ the monster says he must face up to.  So much guilt, that Conor actually craves punishment.

‘He was going to be punished. It was finally going to happen. Everything was going to make sense again…Punishment was coming.’

The tales the monster tells convey the message that there are other ways of looking at things, that people can’t be divided into good and evil and that their intentions and feelings may be hidden and contrary to their public face.  Could Conor have got it wrong about his awful Grandma after all? Of the many striking scenes is that in his Grandmother’s house when Conor unleashes his pent-up anger – and gets a surprising reaction.

Apart from the book’s ending, I found one of the most moving aspects to be Conor’s sense of loneliness and isolation. Because people don’t know what to say to him, they say nothing, to the point where he feels as if he’s invisible.

As Conor’s mother says, ‘The green things of this world are just wondrous, aren’t they?’ and it’s so clever that the monster should be formed from a yew tree which is a source of drugs used to fight cancer.

A wonderful book.

This book forms part of my From Page to Screen Reading Challenge. I shall be doing a separate post with my comparison of the book and the film.

To buy a copy of A Monster Calls from Amazon.co.uk, click here

In three words: Powerful, moving, involving

NessAbout the Author

Patrick Ness, an award-winning novelist, has written for England’s Radio 4 and Sunday Telegraph and is a literary critic for The Guardian. He has written many books, including the Chaos Walking Trilogy, The Crash of Hennington, Topics About Which I Know Nothing, and A Monster Calls. He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Born in Virginia, he currently lives in London.

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