Haunting ( )

This is a beautifully written, lyrical book. Unfortunately, the writing is also so slow and deliberate that I almost couldn't stand it. What little drama or action there was in the book was almost completely overwhelmed by the ponderous writing. ( )

http://sarahbbc.wordpress.com/and-now... ( )

The story is told within the framework of Moira filling in Amy, her sister, on her life while Amy is in a coma. Amy has been in a coma for over four years. For most of the book, one isn't sure how her fall on to the rocks occurred but I leaned towards thinking it was intentional instead of accidental. We're never really told exactly what happens or how it happens. When we get up to the time in Moira's telling of the fall, the fall seemed decidedly accidental to me then. Reading the book, I didn't keep waiting for Amy to wake from her coma because the story is more in Moira's reflecting on her life than the story of what happened to Amy.

So why is Moira telling Amy, who is her sister, the story of her life? Amy was born when Moira was 11 years old and Moira views Amy as a betrayal of her already completed family unit. Moira goes away to boarding school, which changes the course of her life, and rarely writes, talks to, or sees her family. She cannot stand her sister. The coma brings about change.

Moira sees herself as so different, in a bad way, a wrong way, from the others. She is shocked at someone falling in love with her. In the end, she finds she can answer to herself how someone could love her as she is.

The writing is detail worded and picture-able. I think I read somewhere that the author was still in her 20s when she wrote this, which increased my view of the book in some ways. A major theme is water and it's imagery. And water and light. Also, imagery of nature and the country side.

I did not expect to like this book but I did. There was one flaw for me. Something occurred in the last part of the book which I didn't like. But thinking about it as I moved on in the book, I could see it was in character of Moira and it furthered her. Fletcher wrote one other book before this one and I plan on reading it. ( )

This is a great book about loss and guilt and in a slow and lovely language that is poetic and warm. When you read it, you can smell the sea and you can almost touch the persons in the book. Even when I did not read, I was completely 'living' in the book. I never have read a book like this before, it is fantastic. ( )