Very unusual! I found it quite hard to put down. Great literature? No, but it's definitely a fascinating read. In a sense, there is a deeper message, as it explores themes of grief, memory, and love. That sounds slow and depressing, but though it's shot through with sadness, it's anything but slow-moving.
It's a simply written and astonishing tale of survival. I'm afraid I skimmed through quite a lot of it. Maurice's character is perhaps the most interesting part. He's a very solitary soul, and I can believe that he wasn't easy to get along with, but he loved his wife more than anything. The book goes beyond their survival story and follows their lives until their passing in the 2000s. It's not particularly well-written, but I suppose with a story like that to relate, it doesn't really have to be. It leaves me feeling a little sad, especially after listening to the interview with Maurice (posted link here).
No need to engage your brain. Just cruise into the story and enjoy it. Ideally, you shouldn't think too much. If you don't, you'll find it funny and rather sweet. If you do, you'll wonder how a woman of that age could have the emotional intelligence of a teenager. Mildly amusing and very undemanding - just what we need at times.
A truck strikes a minibus full of students. Only one survives. A family is told their daughter is dead, and another family is told their daughter has survived, but is gravely injured. 5 weeks later, the truth comes out. The girl in the hospital has been misidentified. I skimmed a lot of this book. There's a lot of praying and American-style Christianity. God is mentioned on every second or third page, and sometimes 3 times on a single page. Nevertheless, I have the greatest respect for the people involved. They were subjected to extreme emotional trauma and handled it as well as any human being possibly could. So, despite skimming it at the speed of hot pie and peas, I found the story inspiring.
This is a gentle book, very "best of American values" and sentimental. An elderly man decides to make people happy by giving them portraits created by an artist whose work is displayed in a local coffee shop. Although some of them tell their stories, our hero, Theo, remains a mystery until the end of the book. Although not much happens, I found it quite an addictive read (all that dopamine).