This book will make you laugh, cry, get angry. It's about life, love and family.
Not sure what book they're describing here, but it is somewhat different from the book I just read!
That being said- this book was fantastic! It started off a little slow and a lot of characters were introduced and I wondered if the pace would pick up. It absolutely did! I was drawn into the lives of these characters and I cared about each of them. Without giving away too much of the plot, I was in tears about 2/3s of the way through and didn't stop crying until the end. Very heart warming and powerful story!
That being said- this book was fantastic! It started off a little slow and a lot of characters were introduced and I wondered if the pace would pick up. It absolutely did! I was drawn into the lives of these characters and I cared about each of them. Without giving away too much of the plot, I was in tears about 2/3s of the way through and didn't stop crying until the end. Very heart warming and powerful story!
PROMISES TO KEEP is a beautiful tribute to a dear friend of Jane Green who died too young, and it beautifully captures the conflicted emotions of friends and family who come together to help a friend struggling against a potentially lethal illness. While this is not a long book, Green is surprisingly able to develop eight characters very fully, so I found myself emotionally invested in the futures of many different characters.
Each of the eight main characters I found to be enormously likeable, which ironically was the only discordant note in the book - everyone was almost too decent, too happy, too self-aware, too good to feel entirely true. The only "bad guys" were a cartoonishly unreasonable ex-wife and a hyperbolically selfish soon-to-be-ex-wife, but those were just minor roles. Everyone else was someone I'd want to know, someone I'd love to have as a friend. And despite the great tragedy of a life-threatening illness that runs throughout the book, every character has an enviably happy, fulfilling life.
Having recently lost a sibling to sudden death, I found the suffering and worry of friends and family to be emotionally resonant, and found myself feeling jealous of the ability for loved ones to say a long goodbye. Ultimately, though, this book is about embracing life, and living it fully no matter what is happening, about joy amid sorrow, about how suffering and happiness can intersect. It is definitely worth a read.
Each of the eight main characters I found to be enormously likeable, which ironically was the only discordant note in the book - everyone was almost too decent, too happy, too self-aware, too good to feel entirely true. The only "bad guys" were a cartoonishly unreasonable ex-wife and a hyperbolically selfish soon-to-be-ex-wife, but those were just minor roles. Everyone else was someone I'd want to know, someone I'd love to have as a friend. And despite the great tragedy of a life-threatening illness that runs throughout the book, every character has an enviably happy, fulfilling life.
Having recently lost a sibling to sudden death, I found the suffering and worry of friends and family to be emotionally resonant, and found myself feeling jealous of the ability for loved ones to say a long goodbye. Ultimately, though, this book is about embracing life, and living it fully no matter what is happening, about joy amid sorrow, about how suffering and happiness can intersect. It is definitely worth a read.
This book was wonderful! I was so involved with the characters that I could not put the book down. Tears in my eyes came a couple of times. This was the first Jane Green book that I have read--now, I want to read more. It is about a family coming together in the hardest of times for one unforgettable and ultimately life-changing year. It is about the hard choices we have to face, about having to be your parents' child long after you've grown up, and finally, about the enduring nature of love.
