this book was so touching and aware. it felt like it was telling the story of people we actually might no. well i certainly got invested enough in them to that it could have been so. there was so much to explore in this book. each character has something to give and this is where the brilliance of writing in more than one Pov really came in. it meant we could see all these thing co-existing sometimes at the same time but from different people meant or felt like different things. it reminded us to hold space for difference but also hold space for people going through things so much like our own. if not exactly the same hard is still hard and need is still need. and around us there might be more people going through stuff than we know.
with these characters that comes in the form of a fractured family. all who hold so much pain or memories that splinters. you could feel the want for forgiveness. you could feel the fear that they might not be worthy of it, or anything really. and this broke my heart for what the characters were going through, it felt like their story was shimmering off the pages to us readers. so you really do begin to care, you really do need to know whats going to happen for all these characters because you just cant bear for them not to be ok!
Holly write so beautifully and with such care. its like she is aware of both her characters and readers and so hold space for them all.
the emotional connection to this book i think comes from how close it feels or could feel to either us or people we know. the connective nature to real people and real feelings was something alot of book rarely get so right as this one. so it means your heart feels a little shaken but also healed all at once throughout. but then you are also very much able to keep it separate and simply fall in love with the characters in this book and care for them and where they might be heading. this book was simply gorgeous people!
i will add this is a book that doesn't hold back on some of the most darkest things humans can go through. these sisters have trauma in their lives. and for one, Katherine. what she goes through is something that many cant even shouldn't read at this point in their lives. make sure you research the themes in this book. there are some about grief but there is also some about a very traumatic event of abuse that happens to someone. that breaks that someone and we watch the fallout. now that might sound too much, if that is the case then do yourself the best favour and dont read. that IS MORE THAN OK. but you also see what support, love, and then healing can be done. can be done with the right people the right time, the right love around.
there is also declining mental health to the point of their being only one end point they see. please, again, know what you can manage and know it ok if you cant.
you will root for all these characters. you will stay up late, way to late like me to make sure they are ok. i was scooping over the pages with a need to make sure lol.