Helpful Score: 6
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Ms. Domingue really knows how the write. When you read this book, be ready to experience the emotions that the main character Razi experiences. Razi was going to go to medical school back in the 1920s, but died in a swimming accident. She is now living in the "in between." She has been dead for 70 years when she mets a couple and moves into their house with them. Obviously, they don't know she exists. She talks about their life, and her life, starting with flashbacks from before to after the accident. It really is an amazing book. I used to say that there are only 3 books that I have ever cried reading. Now, I have to say that there are 4 books. The emotions that you will experience while reading this book are raw and undescribable. If you read this book, you will need a box of tissues.
Helpful Score: 5
There are a number of books using a similar premise...a story told through the eyes of a person who has died, but this one is particularly well done. For one thing, the author uses language to invoke both the past (the 1920's) the present time. For another, the love stories in both eras are both compelling with quirky and memorable characters and parellel each other to some degree. Finally, the "rules" for what ghosts can and cannot do are interesting and imaginative. I listened to the audio tape on a recent trip and found it entertaining and "haunting".
Helpful Score: 4
This was such a heart wrenching tale- right there with "the notebook". It is hard for me to even comprehend such all encompassing love that is portrayed in this story. Wonderful.
Helpful Score: 3
I loved this book, so much so, that I emailed the author and told her so. The characters were deep and interesting. Razie, the main character, caught between life and the afterlife is such an interesting voice. If you enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife, Lovely Bones, Wuthering Heights, The Thirteenth Tale, etc. you will really enjoy this book. Besides the interesting characters there is a deep and romantic love story that transends death. I found the book mysterious and haunting as well. Up there with my favorites. Can't wait for this author to write more!
Helpful Score: 2
One of the most beautifully written love stories. A great first novel that stayed in my thoughts for days after.
Helpful Score: 2
This book was hard for me to get into at first but after a few chapters, I couldn't put it down. I really liked the character development and the plot.
Helpful Score: 2
Great story. Reminds me of "Lovely Bones" in the sense that it is written from the perspective of a woman who died and is watching people on earth, but it's 75 years after she died. Very good.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a book that will stick with you for a while. The characters are completely charming and unforgettable.
Helpful Score: 2
I've not read the Alice Sebold book that this keeps getting compared to, so my opinion comes from this book on its own merit. I found it enchanting, the prose as haunting as the title and story. The author has a distinct lyricism to her voice, and more than once, I fell head over heels with the sheer beauty of her prose. The story is structured much like The Time Traveler's Wife, with the narrative jumping back and forth in time - present tense used for Razi's living life and past tense used for her ghostly life in the present day. I never found it confusing, and the graceful way it's interwoven, revealing more and more of the characters' lives as it goes along, was masterful. The parallels between Razi's life and the young couple she "lives" with now only add another layer of loveliness to an already glorious tale. Loved it.
Helpful Score: 2
This was a great book! Told from the perspective of a "ghost/spirit" and explores the depths of grief and love and the ability of love to heal a broken soul. This book was very different from most books I've read and it was refreshing change of pace. This is definitely one of my favorite books so far.
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed this book by this new author. I really enjoyed the storyline and the setting. The story was awesome and there was a twist at the end that made you think. It was also a book club selection and I picked it.
Helpful Score: 2
This is one of the most engrossing novels I have read in a while. Superbly written. I could hardly put it down and hated for it to end!
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book!! It was a little difficult to follow at times and I had to really focus to connect everything, but It was wonderful!!! Couldn't wait to get back and read more every time I put it down!!!!
Helpful Score: 1
Beautifully written - a pleasure to read!
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book, it had all the great elements...heartache, love, history, friendship, and loss of a loved one.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this book, you don't really see how everything totally comes together until the end. Interesting reading about two women in two different generations fighting for the same thing.
Loved this book. Loved the New Orleans location references and early 20th century time travel. The writing was clever enough to keep me entertained and thinking and the plot and characters were fun and interesting and have stayed in my mind even after I've finished the book. Good read!
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this one. The story from the perspective of the "ghost" was excellent. A beautiful love story.
Helpful Score: 1
The Mercy of Thin Air is a very complex book but it is also a love story. It should have captivated me, since I love books that explore the meaning of after life, such as The Lovely Bones, but this one never fully engaged me.
Raziela Nolan is a flapper in 1920s New Orleans. She is very intelligent, a suffragette and a proponent of birth control for women. Her bright intelligence and love of life has captured the heart of Andrew OConnell, a future lawyer. Andrew and Razi are in the midst of a passionate love affair when she has a tragic accident. Choosing to stay between Razi narrates the story of her life and the life of a young couple, Scott and Amy, whose house she is presently haunting, some seventy years after her death. Why does Razi find herself so compelled to become involved in the life of this young couple? And what is the secret she keeps alluding to, involving Andrew?
This book has a very ethereal feel to it, but the constant shift in time was enormously confusing. Since Razi always speaks in the present tense, it was hard to know what time frame she was talking about. With the exception of Razi and Andrew, and a few of Razis fellow ghosts, I did not feel most of the supporting characters were fully developed, and so I was often confused about whom Razi was talking about. The love story of Amy and Scott was not as compelling as that of Razi and Andrew, and the book was too easy for me to put down, and I was never in that big a hurry to get back to it. I only became full enraptured with the story during the last 25 pages, and the final revelation of the secret was pretty disappointing.
Raziela Nolan is a flapper in 1920s New Orleans. She is very intelligent, a suffragette and a proponent of birth control for women. Her bright intelligence and love of life has captured the heart of Andrew OConnell, a future lawyer. Andrew and Razi are in the midst of a passionate love affair when she has a tragic accident. Choosing to stay between Razi narrates the story of her life and the life of a young couple, Scott and Amy, whose house she is presently haunting, some seventy years after her death. Why does Razi find herself so compelled to become involved in the life of this young couple? And what is the secret she keeps alluding to, involving Andrew?
This book has a very ethereal feel to it, but the constant shift in time was enormously confusing. Since Razi always speaks in the present tense, it was hard to know what time frame she was talking about. With the exception of Razi and Andrew, and a few of Razis fellow ghosts, I did not feel most of the supporting characters were fully developed, and so I was often confused about whom Razi was talking about. The love story of Amy and Scott was not as compelling as that of Razi and Andrew, and the book was too easy for me to put down, and I was never in that big a hurry to get back to it. I only became full enraptured with the story during the last 25 pages, and the final revelation of the secret was pretty disappointing.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was a really fun read. Different than anything I have read and kept me on my toes.
Helpful Score: 1
If you liked the lovely bones you'll like this
This was a love story with "ghostly" twists. It kind of reminded me of the book "A Certain Slant of Light" because of a similar plot. It was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend it for anyone who like the other book I mentioned.
I couldn't get attached to the characters or anything else in this book. I tried to commit to reading the whole thing but I just lost interest.
I started this book one night and had to finish it the next day. It was so interesting and different. I really enjoyed it.
Enjoyed this book a lot! Interesting story told through the eyes of someone who had died. I liked her story and the intertwined story of a living woman.
Absolutely delightful novel. Uniquely interwoven story that keeps you wanting more.
The book started out very interesting but I had to stop reading it. The issues of grief and loss are very powerful and as I struggle with my own feelings of this I cannot read this book at this time
I enjoyed this book. It was a little hard to follow at times but overall it was a great read. Thin Air refers to a place between heaven and life, sort of a nether land were a soul lingers until it decides to move on. Two great love stories.
I loved this book, it portrays a love that goes beyond life. Don't be fooled though, this is no typical romance novel and don't be put off by those who say it is hard to follow. It does jump back and forth in story lines and years but it all ties together. A wonderful story.
I loved this book. It's different and fresh, such a good read.
Haunting tale of a young woman who dies during the 1920's. Decades later, she watches over a young couple, and learns about the life that her young boyfriend lived as he grew to be an old man after she died. Great reading!
Told from the perspective of the spirit of a woman who dies in the late 20s but sticks around in the "between" till the present. Has flashbacks from her life and the lives of the people she watches. Not the fastest moving book, but interesting none the less.
I highly recommend this one. It's wonderful!
This book jumped around a little but was a very good book. I was tempted to put it in my keeper pile but I thought I would share. Definitely a great book!
Somewhat slow to get through, but it was a very interesting point of view of a young woman from the '20s who is a ghost, observing the modern times. Kind of like "Lovely Bones." I got it because it gives you some interesting history on Baton rouge and Louisiana and enjoyed it.
Starts a little weird until you get the hang of what is going on. Great conlusion and great story told from several perspectives over several generations. A worthwhile read, though not on my "must read" list.
Read this book over 10 years ago, and didn't remember the story. I had a hard time keeping with it, though it was an interesting tale.
Raziela Nolan, a ghost, looks at the world and memories she left behind, while being exposed to a present day couple and the problems they are experiencing.
A good story, moves around a bit, interesting idea.
i just never "got" this book. i never knew who was related to who. what time frame it was. whether it was a real person speaking or a "ghost".
to this moment, i have no idea how the main charachter died...can anyone tell me???
to this moment, i have no idea how the main charachter died...can anyone tell me???
The book, The Mercy of Thin Air, was an excellent book. What if after your death you were able to hang around 'between' were able to observe and even interact on a ghostly plane with those you knew in life? There are so many chick lit books about with light airy romances; it was good to read this book telling of a love that would never die. I was pulled in quickly to the story and the book flows into a thoroughly satisfying ending. I never saw the ending coming, I was always completely engaged, and I just couldn't read fast enough.
This book was so good, that I have saved my copy and won't get rid of it. I wish this Author had more books, but it would be hard to beat this one.
This is a beautifully written and very sensuous "ghost" story. The ghost, Razi, is compelling and I just loved her. It is so ethereal and compelling. Loved it!
