Review: hauntingly beautiful
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2013
This story is hauntingly sad and eerie. It is also one of the most heartfelt books I have read. The plot is very simple but the writing is very complex. This book was so honest and raw it was almost painful to read at times. I love sad books so this story was really just the thing for me. My daughter and I are so close now to have lived a life without her... I wonder what I would have felt if I too had lost my only child.The character development is amazing. The author really gets into the heart of Claire. There is such a mixture of sadness and deep insight into her feelings. I really disliked the husband. You don't get to know him as much but you do get the feeling of his un-support. And Claire's mother just wants her to stop and just come home. Its not that simple! I know that she had to think, feel, and get over some things before she could return home. She needs a "turning point" a sign.There are parts in the book that make you wonder if there is a ghost or is Claire just seeing things that aren't there because of her state of mind? This part reminded me of the movie - "Half Light" with Demi Moore (great movie!).I also loved that this story took place at a lighthouse. I love books about lighthouses.Here is a quote that shows you the emotion in this book  -"And then I'm forced to lie here, too tired to move or even to think anymore, and I listen to the sound of the waves crashing outside the lighthouse in steady beats that remind me of a funeral song. Ironically, that thought, even more than the memory of the dress and all the flowers, plunges me over the edge and draws warm tears across my cheeks even as I tell myself I will not cry. But I can't help seeing Lily in that little casket. Watching her in my mind, I see her chest move and then suddenly I start thinking that maybe, somehow, she is still alive."This book is beautifully written, so in-depth, and  emotional. This is a very clean book (no sex, no swearing, that I can recall).