Pages : 405
Read on : Kindle
Review: Everyone loves an underdog. I personally
love it when I expect a book to be sloppy but ends up really impacting me. This
was one of them. Just like Perks of Being a Wallflower , If I Stay , Letters to
the Dead etc there are ample YA coming-of-age novels that have tried to twist
and turn around the same or similar plot lines. As mentioned earlier on my blog
, not all of them manage to successfully deliver.
I probably have digressed when I say this book , on reading
the synopsis ,is not similar in story but there may be likeness on the plot
front.
The story is set in a small town from where five young men go
to war and only one returns completely distort and damaged.
Ambrose Young was beautiful , strong , handsome , enough to
make any girl swoon. Fern Taylor was right the opposite and has been secretly
in love with him ever since she was ten. She tries her best to reach out to a
ruined Ambrose knowing that his beauty is more than skin deep. The prime focus
of the story is loss. Collective loss , loss of faith , loss of beauty , loss
of love , loss in every explorable way possible. The reason why I put it in the
league of coming-of-age novel is because it also about acceptance of difference
and oneself.
I devoured this book , all of it's 400-something pages, just
in one day.
Fair warning. This is not a happy book. I was one of those
believers who thought fiction can't make me cry. Boy! Was I wrong! All the
emotions and agitation felt by Ambrose and the town people is true to life. Amy
Harmon's writing is simple yet powerful enough to hit nerves. Not to be
confused , this book is not just a teary read. It does have it's light-hearted
,lovable moments along with it's fair share of grown up issues. I got into
this book knowing and also assuming it to be just another Young Adult. After
endearing this heart-tugging affair , I reconsidered this to be more of
an adult book ( May be because subconsciously I knowing YA is not always
taken seriously). Considering that a book is deemed 'Adult' for high sexual
content or for the age of the characters , It would be foolish to assume this
book won't give you the feels if you were well above the YA age bar.
All of Amy Harmon's books are well rated and loved on
Goodreads. Barring one or two , the rest of her works are rated well above a 4
with Making Face being the highest. Majority of Goodreads reviewers have
rated this a 5 stars. However, I took one down for what you may think as stupid
reasons - The book title and book cover. Sometimes you can''t help but judge a
book by a cover. This reflects more as a romance novel at first glance. Very
little in the book is connected to the title, nonetheless , I can see the
deeper meaning behind it. The black and white cover does salvage it to some
extent.
Another one that I would read ,re-read and savour in
the years to come.
Final Rating : 4/5
خُدا حافِظ
