Three generations of characters and a bouncy timeline make
for a challenging but enjoyable read, even though the prologue begins with an
attempted suicide by Alice, the main character.
We gradually learn her story from her reflections while in a coma, as well
as third-person narration that often changes abruptly in both perspective and
time period. The author relies on
context to get us settled into the right situation, and it works OK, although I
didn’t really love having to wrap my head around what has happened and what is
yet to happen in each scenario. The crux
of the novel is an epic love story between Alice and John, but why Alice tries
to kill herself is a story that unfolds slowly, along with a family secret that
has been withheld way too long. Some
parts of the novel are extremely romantic and other parts on extremely
heartbreaking. Frankly, I could have
done with more romance and less heartbreak, which is actually more like
soul-crushing grief. Still, this is a
book I always looked forward to resuming, partly because questions remained
unanswered until the end but also because Alice was such a delightful and
lovable character. I wanted the best
possible outcome for her.
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