3 out of 4 stars
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Wake Up, by Claire Colley
This book is a fiction novel written about the protagonist’s tumultuous relationships with herself and others. I believe the themes of this book are rebirth, admitting truths to yourself, and the love between mothers and daughters.
This book opens up with the main character in a coma after suffering a horrendous accident. It delves into her deepest and darkest memories as she struggles to find the courage to come back. Her memories take us into a place that she had locked up long ago, and force her to relive the most painful moments of her life. By reliving these memories and the trauma, she is forced to see what she could never see before, or allowed herself to see. Only after she lives through this highlight reel again does she see what she needs to do once she…wakes up.
I give this book 3 out of 4 stars.
This book pulls you in. What I really loved about this book was the simplicity. Once we are well into it we see the author’s style and pace of writing, and it’s effortless and addicting. The beginning of the book did not read as well. It felt slightly forced, the imagery of the vile apartment too strong and not consistent with the rest of the imagery of the book.
The language is easy to read and follow, and the concepts aren’t hidden behind obscure symbolism. The facts are laid out almost immediately, and we know within a few pages what this book is all about. However, once you think you have it figured out, it gets darker, and darker. You begin by not really liking the main character, in the middle of the book you feel really, really sorry for her, and by the end you are rooting for her and are her biggest cheerleader. The other characters are molds, archetypes of the people in the world who are bystanders, or are the perpetrators, people who use women or women who belittle other women. Almost all are one-dimensional and easy to hate.
I found this an interesting perspective into a topic of abuse that I don’t know much about. It had a feverish pace to it once you get into it. It read like all the emotions and memories were spilling out in a frenzy and we were trying to catch them all. I got slightly addicted in the short time it took me to read this. The book made me cry, made me laugh, made me want to jump in there and shake the main character.
In summary, this book read well, drew me in completely, and emotionally hit me hard. The abuse is awful and terrible and it was eye opening to read from the perspective of one trapped. It’s so easy from the outside to say ‘just get out of it’ but so hard for those inside. Once I finished reading I wanted to hug everyone in my life. Not everyone is ok. I think that is what the book is all about, there’s more to people than what meets the eye.
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Wake Up
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