Review: 6 Stars - An Emotion but Loving Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2014
These books are full of emotion, good and bad and will keep you reading until the small hours of the morning.Jane Harvey-Berrick is a remarkable writer, she takes a story and writes it from her heart and soul but more than that she makes you feel what the characters are feeling and in these books she deals with some serious issues, such as PTSD, The War, and Love between two people who want to be together but because of circumstances and ages they had to hide their relationship from everyone and ultimately pay the price.There is so much in these books, laughter, love, emotion but also knowledge of what people have to suffer when they return from the War and what they deal with while being there. That in itself was so emotional for me to read but also remarkable to read what people do over there to keep our countries and citizens safe.The Education of Sebastian is based on an Army Base and everyone in this book is either an officer or family member of an army personnel.Sebastian's father is a bully and an abuser, he frequently beat up on Sebastian and my heart broke everytime we heard about it, from the beginning of the book until the end of book one there are signs all the way through of how Sebastian’s father treated him“ I *** warned you what I’d do if you did that again when you should be studying”Sebastian loves to surf, he wants to go to colleage to study but his father wants him to enlist and join the army like himCaroline and her mother also do not have the best of relationships as you can see when on Caroline’s wedding day her mother’s comments cut her to the bone, never one to compliment her own daughter“He’s too good for you, of course, Caroline, but we’ll do the best we can. Well, I shall do my best to make you attractive, although ‘pretty’ is too much to hope for you. Oh you look so much like your father”David – Caroline’s husband, well he is complex, he basically wants to keep Caroline in the home doing everything for him, everything has to be done in a certain way at a certain time and to his specific instructions, “ I hated it when he ordered me around – which was most of the time, admittedly. But it was really grating on me”The feelings between the two of them is not only powerful but also scary to both of them, however, Sebastian has no fear, he knows he wants to be with Caroline no matter what, he knows he loves her, but Caroline is different, she is married, yes it is a loveless marriage but married all the same, she has trepidations and feelings she cannot understand“why the hell did he have such an effect on me”?  'Uncertain of so many things about myself, about my life, I knew that I wanted Sebastian. I wanted him very badly' The hardest thing either of these two can do is love each other it is difficult for both of them but they do the best they can.  “It amo tanto, Sebastian sepmre e per sempre”I could write so much about this first book but it would give into too many spoilers and I will not consciously do that, let me say this though that the ending to this first book may take people by surprise, I know that the first time I read this book I was shocked and I just had to read The Education of Caroline to find out what happened so that is where I will now pick up from.The Education of Caroline: We catch up with Caroline 10 year later, she has a career, she has a lovely home on Long Island, she is doing what she wanted to do, but is she happy?“Despite what happened that day, despite what happened later, I can’t bring myself to regret the events of that summer, because Sebastian taught me how to love”I was both angry and sad at them at the beginning of the second book. Sebastian has become an angry man over the years, but why???. I would never have thought that these two who loved each other so much could be so distant from each other and at odds with each other. These two have so many unresolved issues in this book that they need to sit and discuss  “His voice sounded so desolate, my resolution bean to waver, buck and give way entirely”As time goes on the easier these two are around each other and Caroline and Sebastian takes this opportunity to travel around Italy. ‘As the sun set, sinking into the sea beneath us. It was a perfect and poignant end to a magical few days’.- I loved this to me it showed not only the sadness these two felt after being together for some magical days but also the dread they had of being apart from each other yet again.The way Jane has described the places that Sebastian and Caroline visit is brilliant, she is so descriptive you can imagine yourself there which makes the book come alive and so real. Jane wrote so realistically about the camps, the transport, the armour and the weapons, the atmosphere, it made you appreciate what everyone did over there for us all.Life was not easy out there for either of these two and the drama that followed was so emotional, I cried and cried yet again, no matter how many times I read these books I cry at the same point each time.What happened once Caroline got back to Kabul was devastating and emotional to say the least all I will say is that you get a real insight into people's lives after returning from these places. This was difficult to read but so lovingly written.I loved it when Sebastian said to Caroline “Caro, I don’t understand. Why do you love me”? and Caroline's reply “Just because….. because the sky is blue and the sea is green” - This is my favorite phrase in the whole book, so loving and heartfelt.The epilogues and extra chapters that Jane wrote in this edition were brilliant, the insight she put into all these extra’s was truly amazing, it was like reading missing bits of their lives and gave new meaning to the words that were written and the feelings of both Sebastian and Caroline. You really need to read them yourself to know everything for yourself but I can guarantee you will not be disappointed. I loved the new epilogue that took place three years after the original epilogue everything about it spoke volumes to me, and what was truly important……. Family!!!!This book and bonus chapters and epilogue area truly amazing to read.We have been given a truly amazing book with such insight into everything that this couple have endured and into some aspects that people who have had loved ones in the war and come back from the war have to deal with. Jane Harvey-Berrick is a brilliant author whom more people should know about.