The Possibilities

by Kaui Hart Hemmings

In this highly anticipated novel from the bestselling author of The Descendants, a grieving mother struggles to overcome her son’s death, when a strange girl enters her life with a secret that changes them both forever.

Sarah St. John, a single mother, is reeling from grief: Three months ago, her twenty-one-year-old son, Cully, died in an avalanche near their home in the ski resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado.

As Sarah tries her best to go through the stages—the anger, the sadness, the letting go—she has trouble keeping her grief at bay and moving on with life. Her father, a retiree who has become addicted to QVC, urges Sarah to go back to work at Breckenridge’s local morning show. Her best friend, a recent divorcee who always manages to say the wrong things, convinces Sarah to sort through Cully’s belongings. Slowly, she comes to terms with a world without the swish of her son’s ski pants or the rolling of his skateboard outside her window. Then a girl named Kit appears on Sarah’s doorstep—and she’s carrying Cully’s child.

The Possibilities is a tender and darkly funny story about the fracturing and healing that takes place within a family after tragedy. Told in Kaui Hart Hemmings’s unsentimental and refreshingly wry style—praised as “audaciously comic” by The New Yorker—this uplifting novel asks difficult questions about what we risk to keep our loved ones close.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club, Grief, Family, Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 13, 2014

About the author

I'm the author of The Descendants, House of Thieves, The Possibilities and Juniors, a YA novel. My next novel, How to Party with an Infant will be published August 9 2016. Visit my website:
https://www.facebook.com/KauiHartHemm...
Instagram: http://instagram.com/kauiharthemmings#

Reviews

[Dem · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings was a book club read.

I really didn't connect with this book at all. I felt the novel lacked character development and emotion. I kept feeling I was reading a book that was missing the first 100 pages. I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters. Just not my cup of tea. So moved on swiftly.

Will be interesting to see how it works as a discussion book.

[switterbug (Betsey) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are as many books on grieving as there are ways to grieve. Some books, whether self-help, memoirs, or novels, have an agenda to assist the reader through the grieving process. Hemmings’ novel, however, doesn’t overreach, patronize, or even subtly attempt to provide lessons in grief or a helping hand. Instead, it is an engaging character study of specific people going through a universal process in very personal ways. It isn’t narrated in a maudlin or elegiac voice, or expressed through histrionics. Rather, the voice is frank, natural, and entirely authentic.

It took a few chapters to settle in, because I was thrust into the story in the midst of things (in media res) rather than with a preamble or introduction. Hemmings gently reveals the recent and past history of her characters by immersing you in present day matters. Moreover, circumstances at hand hint at conduits to the future. The author is skilled at evincing a moment with a narrow lens, and then gradually expanding the scope of the story into a mature and contoured portrait.

Sarah St John is the main character. Three months ago, she lost her twenty-two year old son, Cully, in an avalanche while he was skiing in their hometown of Breckenridge, Colorado. Cully was an only child, and Sarah never married his father, although they remain on amicable terms. Her best friend, Suzanne, is a reluctant divorcée, mourning over the ex-husband she still loves. Her daughter, Morgan, was Cully’s best friend.

Sarah’s father retired from Breckenridge’s ski resort industry last year and temporarily moved in with Sarah and Cully, but he hasn’t left. He’s wrestling with the tragic death of his grandson and the ennui that retirement created. Years ago, he lost a wife, Sarah’s mother, when Sarah was five. He never remarried. Still handsome, in his lugubrious way, he copes with emptiness via a fixation on QVC television.

In the meantime, Sarah considers leaving her job as a co-host on “Fresh Tracks,” a taped show that is aired in all the best hotels and resorts in the area. At one time she aimed to be a serious reporter, but a surprise pregnancy at twenty-one ended that, and Cully began. Right now, she’s contending with uncertainty--beginnings, endings, and a tug of war in the middle. Hemmings does a stellar job of illuminating several conflicts in one scene. Suzanne longs for support, but Sarah’s loss of a son competes and eclipses Suzanne’s divorce. In the thick of grief, seeds of weary judgment, sharp resentment, and entitlement obtrude. And the guilt impinges.

“Guilt came for feeling hungry, for having that sensation. It came from yawning, from putting on make-up, dressing nicely. It came when I felt sexual desire…feeling so awful that…I still felt anything at all. The body just keeps going. It doesn’t care what you’re up to. I remember how guilty I felt for not buying him the most expensive urn.”

Enter a young, enigmatic woman named Kit, who offers to shovel Sarah’s driveway. Her comely youth and mien ignite a spark of generosity in both Sarah and her father, a spirited sense of congenial familiarity. As the story progresses, recovery takes a turn toward redemption. But something more than redemption, too--clarity, connection, and the balance of experience flicker; recurrence and a dynamic kinship evolve and involve all the characters. I did predict and anticipate some plot points, but the journey here is what is sublime. And, don’t be so sure of the destination until you reach the end. And even then, the possibilities are endless…

“Something is breaking in me, but instead of feeling broken, I feel as if something better is building in its place.”

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Ponte das Memórias


Um Filho é uma parte integrante e importante da Vida de qualquer Mãe merecedora do título.
Se uma Mãe perde um Filho, essa Vida é Amputada!
O Grande Alvo do seu Amor desvaneceu-se, mergulhando-a num Poço de Amargura.

Lá fora fervilha todo um Mundo de Possibilidades que ela não vê nem sente!
Não sem antes construir uma Ponte com os fragmentos do Filho que vivem disseminados nos outros que também o amaram. A Ponte que a devolverá à Vida!...


"Não se pode esquecer alguém antes de terminar de lembrá-lo. Quem procura evitar o luto, prolonga-o no tempo e desonra-o na alma. A saudade é uma dor que se pode passar depois de devidamente doída, devidamente honrada. É uma dor que é preciso primeiro aceitar."

Miguel Esteves Cardoso

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hemming has a very smooth style of writing and is very good at taking personal tragedies and making very good stories from them. In this one, a son is lost in an avalanche and Sarah, his mother must find a way to move on. I loved the character Jack, her father, his wisdom and his corny jokes. The characters are very assessable, real life people, dealing with real life situations. Her friend is coping with a cheating husband, and when a girl unknown to them arrives with a shattering proposition, her son's death becomes even more real. Her characters all have real depth to them and there is often humor which made me smile. Yes, humor in the wake of sadness, it happens even when dealing with the unfathomable. The use of dialogue is skillful and the revelations keep the book flowing.

A realistic and good story, with poignant moments and many looks backwards. A chance at a different kind of life if only one has the courage. At the end Sarah shows she has just this kind of courage.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Possibilities is a beautiful book about friends and family and coming to terms with grief in all of its many forms focusing on Sarah St. John, a local television star in Breckenridge, Colorado who is still reeling at the sudden death of her twenty-two year-old son, Cully, just three months earlier in an avalanche while snow-boarding. We are introduced into the past of the wonderful characters in this novel by the skillful weaving of the past into present-day situations by author Kaui Hart Hemmings that holds one's interest throughout this book. This was a moving book about loss and grief as well as gifts from surprising places. A few quotes about the grief process:

" You can't compare and rank heartache. Pain is pain is pain. There is no precise measurement. No quarter cup."

"Moving through grief like it's a thick drift, exhausting but enlivening. It makes your heart muscles ache. It makes you feel you've inhabited your body completely."

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Savor this one as much as you can while reading, because it goes so quick regardless of the size of the text. The focus is marvelous and the emotion feels genuine. It is warm without feeling overly saccharine. Very nice.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book better than I did but I couldn't. I read and liked "The Descendants" and I feel this is just a rehash of that story. Both stories take place in a paradise and both deal with death in the family. In this one, the 22 year old son, Cully dies in a snow avalanche at his hometown ski resort. This deals with the mother and grandfather coming to terms with his death.

In "The Descendants" the mother dies an untimely death and it deals with the family coming to terms with it. They both discover secrets about the deceased. They come to realize no one knows a person fully. Each person is different to other people in their lives. Both families live in resort areas. One in Hawaii and this one in a Colorado ski resort near Vail. I find no major differences in the two books.

I didn't find the writing all that engaging. Death of a young person is never easy and, for me, this didn't shine any new light on the situation. If you want to read an extraordinary story on death and coming to terms with it, try "Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger. That's a book that will stick with you and uplift your soul. This just doesn't cut it.

[Janet Elsbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a 'next book by someone who just wrote a book that turned into a hot movie,' this should have fallen under my new policy of not reading those, but I didn't have the policy in place until I read this book and another in the same category back to back. Creating an imaginary world for readers to imagine themselves into successfully is quite a feat. Once that world it is rendered on screen in one static form, and the movie takes off like wildfire, I think even wonderful writers can get knocked off course. Something has to happen to a book to make it work as a screenplay, and a screenplay doesn't read like a book. This felt like reading a book that the author can already see as a movie.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to writing about loss and grieving, Kaui Hart Hemmings' work shines above the rest. As a fan of The Descendants, I was curious to see if the two novels shared many similarities due to their themes, but with The Possibilities comes new and exciting territory.

I want to start by saying I love how Hemmings includes her settings. This time it's Colorado, a different kind of beautiful, but still a tourist destination. Hemmings beautifully portrays the constant reminders that come from living in a space a loved one has permanently left. The blend of comfort and sadness that come with the memories. And all the while, making the reader want to visit these places, not just to meet and comfort the lovely characters of this novel, but to see the perfection of the landscapes described.

But what really makes this story worth reading are the characters. Sarah has lost her son to an avalanche. She's just barely trying to work again, but is struggling to come to terms with her loss. She lives with her father, who feeds his own despair with QVC purchases. Their sweet and idiosyncratic relationship is a wonder to read. Billy, Sarah's son's father, is back in the picture too--and their exchanges are equally as endearing. Though it wasn't hard to predict certain plot lines, how they were handled and discussed by each unique voice is what made this story blossom. Hemmings also forged an interesting dynamic between Sarah and her best friend. Their relationship was loving, and yet realistic in it's frictions through grief without conveying woman-on-woman hate and malignancy. This was touching as I've noticed this isn't as common as it should be in literature.

quick side note: As a lover of tragicomedy in film, Hemmings has written something that would translate very well to that medium. I seriously hope we get to see another one of her stories on the "silver screen." Just saying.

The Possibilities has solidified my love for Kaui Hart Hemmings' work. Sarah's story will not be soon forgotten.

[Rosana Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Em primeiro lugar, vou comentar a linda capa deste livro! Quando olhei para ela pela primeira vez fiquei logo com vontade de o ler. Além de ser muito bonita, é muito adequada ao tema e ao estado de espírito que o caracteriza. Como estava a ler outro livro e, no geral, não tenho o hábito de ler mais do que um em simultâneo, coloquei-o direitinho na minha estante até finalmente pegar nele a sério. E confesso que não me arrependi de não ter pegado logo nele.

Como a sinopse nos diz, “Sarah St. John tenta recuperar de um golpe devastador” – a morte do seu filho Cully de 22 anos. E, como seria de esperar, ao longo da narrativa, aquilo que mais vemos e sentimos é “a perda”. E não são muitos os autores que conseguem transmitir este sentimento de perda de uma forma delicada, sem retirar a intensidade do mesmo.

Não existe nem existirá nada comparado com a morte de um filho! No entanto, ao longo da leitura percebemos que apesar desta grande verdade inabalável, as perdas têm de ser superadas a seu tempo. Não há um livro de instruções, nem uma maneira certa ou errada de o fazer. E nem sequer existem garantias de sucesso na superação, muito menos a curto prazo.

Podia claro falar mais sobre o livro, mas não quero contar aquilo que não deve ser contado e, muito menos, tirar a beleza que a obra traz dentro de si. Tenho que dizer, no entanto, que não é suposto partir para esta leitura com grandes expectativas. Não estamos perante uma história inovadora nem imprevisível, mas sim perante um livro repleto de carinho, amor, compaixão, saudade, tristeza, dúvidas, culpa e arrependimentos, aos quais ninguém é indiferente.

É um livro que merece calma e paz durante a leitura. E com isto o que quero dizer é que apesar do tema que retrata – a morte de um filho – estamos perante uma obra leve, suave e até ternurenta, repleta dos sentimentos mais belos e fortes que de certeza já habitaram em cada um de nós!

Por fim, é uma obra que recomendo e que espero que consiga alcançar o coração de cada leitor.


http://bloguinhasparadise.blogspot.pt...

[Susan K Perry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hemmings writes well, not a literary misstep in sight. But there were plot flaws. It took half the book to get to the twist, which I could see from early on (I also wrote a novel about a mother grieving a dead son who had a girlfriend, and had considered but not opted for the girl to turn up later with a big surprise, etc etc, as being somehow too obvious).

You would have to like the people more than I was able to, to care about the woman and the girl and what they would eventually decide (which took the whole second half of the book). And the narrator/mother is able to feel happiness again only three months after the death? Hmm. Perhaps not so realistic.

Just too much extra stuff that added nothing (a lot of the dialogue given the father, for example).

[Chaitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The criticism for this novel basically says that it treads the same ground as the author's previous novel, The Descendants. Now, I've only watched the movie adaptation of that book, but I agree. It has the same thread of a family dealing with a death. Here, it is a son as opposed to the mom in The Descendants, but it is essentially similar - you never really know a person, no matter how close you are to them. The secrets that the young man of 22 kept are quite obvious to the reader from the jacket copy, but take a while for the characters to figure out.

That said, since I've not read anything else by Hemmings, I found the writing, and the humor in it, refreshing. It is an easy read, and the prose is simple and direct. It is also very visual, I can see this book easily adapted into a movie. I could understand and relate to the characters too - even if I found the main character, Sarah, irritating and very self-absorbed. But she has her grief, and she is untouchable, excused. And it is understandable, that grief is, indeed, isolating. The other characters mainly exist to support her, barring Kit, the girl with the secret. And they are fine too.

I have two grouses with the book. One, that Sarah's grief and the way the others react to it and her takes a backseat the minute Kit steps into her life. The second, that Sarah's best friend Suzanne is the butt of far too many fat jokes, and I don't know enough of their mutual relationship to figure out if this was ok. It felt a bit mean spirited, to be honest, and something different from what we're led to expect from the characters. Still, they and the heavy subject were not enough to take away from my enjoyment of the book. I might feel differently when I finally seek out The Descendants, but here's my take at the moment - even if the author can play only one note, it's a note she can play very well. 4 stars.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a parent, there are few things as devastating as the loss of a child and normally I avoid stories about children abducted or killed, but there’s an approachability to main character Sarah St. John that drew me into this novel and after reading the first few pages I was hooked. Breckenridge, Colorado is a mountain resort town full of tourists, but Sarah’s family has deep roots in its snowy landscape because it’s been their home for generations. Sarah’s son Cully was twenty-two and after graduating from college he was back home living with her when he died in an avalanche. It’s been just a few months since his death when the book opens and Sarah is overwhelmed but no longer crushed by sorrow and loss.

The Possibilities is told in the present tense which I often dislike, but here the immediacy suits the story since Sarah is working through her grief, not reflecting on it later. The main characters--her father, her best friend, her former boyfriend, and the young woman who comes into their lives--are all realistically imperfect and sometimes petty, but their connections to each other are deeply moving. Without thinking too closely about it, which would probably ruin the analogy, they remind me of the family from Little Miss Sunshine.

I appreciate that this book took on a difficult topic without providing formulaic answers, over simplifying, wallowing in tragedy and doom, or tying everything up too neatly and sweetly.The setting is so thoroughly integrated into the story that crisp, cold, clear mountain air practically blows off the pages. I haven’t read The Descendants, the author’s other novel, but if it is as well written as this book I fully understand its popularity.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

There will be the inevitable comparison to "The Decendents" for this novel. Even I found myself, when reading descriptions of the surroundings, thinking, "Snow in Hawaii?", and having to remind myself this was a different story.
Hemmings is clearly a gifted writer. I love her character dialog and story development. Even when you can see, chapters ahead, where the story is going, you don't mind the journey she takes you on to get there.
At the center of this is a controversial storyline, but I feel it was presented in a way that approached from all sides, covered all angles, but didn't try to tell you which side you should come down on. It takes a skilled writer to do that, to keep it agenda-free.
Very real emotions, "believably contrived" -- I'm coining that new phrase. Credit Me when you use it again.
Worth reading. I see Motion Picture in this novel's future.

[Christina Dudley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an easy read, told in the same half-humorous, half-elegiac tone of THE DESCENDENTS. Despite the fresh setting of Breckenridge, it felt very similar to that earlier book. There was the lost person whom everyone is grieving, the secrets that get revealed, the comic relief. If you enjoyed THE DESCENDENTS, you will probably enjoy this book and squirm a little for something new (I did).

Most likely I will read Kaui Hart Hemmings' next book, but I'm hoping she will cover some fresh territory.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Switterbug and others rated this book 5 star based on what I cannot tell you. If you loved the Descendants then Hemming’s has repeated the story changing Hawaii for a ski town, changing the death of the mother for the death of a son. It is all the same coming to terms with death the secrets one keeps, and moving forward.
She has abeautiful writing style that I hope she puts forth in her new book with a new focus.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exploration of grief, family relationships and the choices we make in life. Good but not great - had expected a bit more from the author of "The Descendants." Still, if you have ever lost someone close in your life, you will find yourself nodding in recognition at the emotions exposed and observations made by the narrator, a mother who has recently lost her son as a young adult.

[Sonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel very protective over the setting of this book, Breckenridge, Colorado, since many of my maternal ancestors lie buried in its cemetery and I spent so many of my formative years there with my grandparents who themselves lived in and around the city limits almost their entire lives until old age infirmities pushed them to lower elevations and doctors and less ice. This is the place where my own parents met and where I went to the fourth grade with a bunch of mean kids and where we ate a hundred thousand family dinners and were told all the old stories of the people in the town, the politics, the weather events, and what had been eaten at all those other meals.

The author of this novel states explicitly in her afterword that the town of her imagination is a fictive version, and I respect that she acknowledged it. Because her rendition is nothing like the town of my memories. A few gratuitous mentions of bars and restaurants and street names don't do it justice as a place where real lives were lived and are lived still.

All this to say that I didn't really like this book much; there are too many kooky characters who don't feel real, who feel like it's all just a prelim to the inevitable movie with a smartass Bruce Dern as the grandfather, maybe some middle-aged but still stunning woman to be the grieving mother, a Robin Wright, a faded Julia Roberts, and of course Mark Ruffalo as the wayward father, and there has to be the scapegoat friend best friend--of course she's fifty and frivolous--who weighs too much and it gets mentioned a lot. It's too pat, too packaged, way too Hollywood, all skin and bones, no authentic or even bitter heart.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young man dies in an avalanche and his mother tries to pick up the pieces of her life. But everything’s changed. All those possibilities promised for his future, and hers, are gone. There’s no purpose to a day-job advertising treasures he’ll never enjoy, or making jokes that can never be shared with him. The snow still falls but it’s not thick enough to shovel, and Sarah’s walking on ice.

Author Kaui Hart Hemmings conveys her protagonist’s emptiness with powerful and humorous conviction. Even as Sarah tries to separate herself from shopping-channel father, divorcing friend, and super-happy co-worker, she finds she’s gaining insight into their lives. And maybe the shopping channel offers possibilities of its own in the shape of memories.

Enter Kim to clear that fallen snow. Add an upcoming road-trip to mourn the son. Be gentle and smile when boarders pass your car. And be ready for spring.

I wasn’t shocked. I’d guessed. But it doesn’t matter. The characters become so real that guessing’s just part of life, another thing you may or may not suggest to them over coffee. The Possibilities is a surprisingly uplifting novel, taking readers on a journey through grief, like winter, to a place where decisions are complex and the prospects are endless as they were at the beginning, at those first stages of lost son’s life.

Disclosure: I was given an advance uncorrected proof and I offer my honest review.

[Melissa Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 2014, "The Possibilities," by Kaui Hart Hemmings, is a contemporary novel set in Breckenridge, Colorado.

The protagonist, Sarah St. John, is the mother of a 22-year-old son who died three months ago in an avalanche while skiing. Over a few long days in Sarah's life, she comes to grip with her loss, and makes some sense of her grief. Reading the book is like watching a really zany, 'comedic' indie film that is full of harsh, ugly things and jokes that punch down. None of the characters felt like real people to me, but talking heads in a mumblecore film with a screenplay that only just barely makes any sense.

I had hoped to find the prose of this book engaging, since I've been wanting to read the author's debut novel, "The Descendants," ever since I saw the award-winning film adaptation. I also live in Colorado, so I was keen to read a novel set here.

But "The Possibilities" bored me, and the relentless sexism and fat-shaming (committed by the protagonist and her much-beloved father) in the first 43 pages turned me off. I stopped reading carefully, and skimmed the rest of the book.

I'm so glad I didn't waste my time reading this. The whole book was depressing and dull, and reads like a cross between a very long, very 'quirky' Iowa Writers Workshop story and the 2004 comedy-drama road movie, "Sideways."

Not for me.

One-star DNF for me personally.

Three stars overall, because whoever the audience is for this book, it's definitely not me.

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this through Goodreads' giveaway program. “The Possibilities” was my first book by Hemmings, famous for “The Descendants.” The direct and clean writing made the book easy to read. I liked the main character, Sarah, who struggled to overcome the sadness she felt after her son’s death. Sarah’s thoughts were quirky and made her seem realistic. Halfway through the book, the big event alluded to on the back cover finally happened. I would have liked to see that occur sooner, especially since the events that lead up to that moment were not overly entertaining. Sarah’s character would have been just as easy to pinpoint with less interaction in the beginning of the book. The conversations between the characters were basic and did not overly interest me. The fresh grief felt by the characters made the story very sad. I was satisfied with the ending that brought closure to the emotional storyline, but it wasn’t the uplifting type of ending I prefer. The darkness of the story just didn’t make this a favorite for me.

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[Jayme C (Brunetteslikebookstoo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah's 22 year old son Cully died in an avalanche, just 3 months ago and "part one" of this novel is about a mother working through her grief. It's told in the first person point of view, so you know what she is thinking as she comes to terms with his death, and it's credible enough, but moves a bit slowly. The book picks up in "part two" when she gets to know Kit, someone from Cully's life, who arrives at her doorstep unexpectedly. Kit is able to shed some light on how some of his last weeks were spent and on the man he was becoming. A mostly dialogue driven novel which I would give 3.5 stars to, if I could. Not quite four stars, because "part one" dragged on a bit too long for me.

[John Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the Good Reads giveaway contest. The initial excitement in reading this book is seeing the places I am familiar with get "cameos" throughout the book, as Hemmings highlights Breckenridge and Colorado Springs as her main settings. Does this book, therefore, move beyond the "Hey-I've-Been-There" propulsion of reading? Hemmings has a way with dialogue and the wry sense of humors carries the book well. The plot seems a little too convenient to the themes of grief in the book. But the dirty motels on Nevada make an appearance, so it's cool.

[Hank Stuever · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different take on a mother's interior expressions of grief (an embittered, even snarky grief) and a fairly spot-on (or it seems to me) portrayal of life in a high-end Colorado ski town. After a promising first half, things really start to drag in the middle, when an already-obvious plot point reveals itself. It takes too much energy to keep going and finish (but I did). The remainder of the novel fades off, even though some of the writing is quite good.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man dies tragically when caught in an avalanche while skiing. Just 22-years-old and full of promise, he leaves behind a family struggling with their grief as well as confusion that they may not have known him as well as they thought they did. But families do what they do best, they come together to help each other heal.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book to read out loud and quote.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moving story of family coming to terms with the death of a young man.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story starts about 3 months after the death of Sarah’s son Cully. It’s her journey of trying to get back to work while learning some new, significant things about her son, that throw her even more off balance, right before a planned memorial for her son. Very realistic in her description of the characters and emotions of the characters, the author does a nice job of bringing you into their space and time. This is a line that I particularly liked: “Moving through grief like it’s a thick drift, exhausting but enlivening. It makes your muscles ache. It makes you feel you’ve inhabited your body completely.”

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don't know how to rate this book. I don't know what I was expecting, but a book about the death of a son, drug use and grieving was not it. This hit just too close to home for me. The main character's son died three months ago, mine nine weeks ago, drugs were involved in the story and in my son's case as well. The mother in the story was lost and trying to find her way as am I. Very painful to read.

[Nina Draganova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Темата е мъчителна. Дори не мога да си помисля, как може да се преживее такава трагедия. Накара ме да се замисля за толкова дребни детайли , които не забелязваме .
Но някак , много хаотично е написана, беше ми трудно да се съсредоточа.
По това време на годината , ми е още по-трудно да възприемам такива книги.