Reviewer: Michelle
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Mara Nichols is a successful lawyer, devoted wife, and adoptive mother who has received a life-shattering diagnosis. Scott Coffman, a middle school teacher, has been fostering an eight-year-old boy while the boy’s mother serves a jail sentence. Scott and Mara both have five days left until they must say good-bye to the ones they love the most.
Through their stories, Julie Lawson Timmer explores the individual limits of human endurance and the power of relationships, and shows that sometimes loving someone means holding on, and sometimes it means letting go.
Review:
This novel contains two stories. One is about a middle aged woman who finds out she has Huntington’s Disease and gives herself five days before she ends her life. The other is a story of a man who has accepted guardianship of a young boy.
As great as these two tales of heartbreak are, the book itself failed to pull me in. I am all for a dark story, and the story of Mara was just that. The story of Scott however, left me angry and anxious for it to end.
Mara is a strong woman who is raising an adopted daughter with her husband. As a partner in a law firm, she is accustomed to hard work and dedication. However, once she starts showing signs of going downhill with Huntington’s, she tells herself she will not let her daughter and husband be burdened with her. She basically gives up. She cannot picture herself in a nursing home. Her story is dark at times and I wouldn’t recommend it for the faint hearted.
Scott’s story is a little less depressing. His family is expanding and his wife is having a hard time accepting the fact that Scott wants to adopt Curtis, the young boy they were watching over. It goes back and forth between them and it’s clear that Scott desperately wants to take in the young boy, but there are obstacles in the way. There really wasn’t much to like about his wife, especially because she seemed so cold hearted when it came to Curtis. I didn’t quite get the point of this story and how this related to the story of Mara. Other than the fact that the two both frequented a forum about adoptive parents, I didn’t see any connections.
All in all, I enjoyed the writing in this book. The descriptions were great and you could really feel the heartbreak in both stories.
3 Stars
