Review: Hope and Renewal
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2013
Finding Lily is an amazing book. It is hard to imagine how one might react to the imaginable pain of losing a child. I, myself, would be destroyed. The author brought you to the core of Claire's heartbreak with her words. She crafted a well written story that gave the reader the opportunity to become a close friend of Claire, and as that close friend, allowed the reader to suffer through her loss along with her, as well as her healing.I think that God helps us heal in a way that only the person grieving can understand. For Claire, that healing came in the form of isolation and time with her daughter, Lily. Finding Lily is also a story of hope, showing us all that time and love can help in easing the pain and moving forward.Here are a few quotes from the book. The author brings out the humanness in Claire."Then I wept and wept in a new, more violent way that I had so far. The crying scared me with its intensity. My tears were ragged and my breath caught in my chest in painful bursts that threatened to suffocate me, and I wanted to break something or throw something or do something that would release some of the tension, but I couldn't stop crying long enough to figure out what, besides Lily's coming back, would help me to feel better.""Can I get you anything?" he (Jim) asked, unaware of my growing wrath. "Aunt Gwynn made some of your favorite strudel." He gestured to his plate, as though I could've missed it. How in the world could this man be so untouched by Lily's death to stand here eating? I hadn't been able to eat in a few days even though everyone kept pressing food on me.""All of my energy was focused on the chase, and that prevented me from seeing what the catch would feel like when-and if-I was successful in my attempt. I wonder if all couples experience a similar paradox in their relationships.""Even though Jim can't quite pinpoint exactly what it is that made him marry me, I think that it was because I was so nice to him, and so persistent, that eventually he realized his life was empty without me in it. Now, though, some of my niceness has died with Lily, and I'm just struggling to survive in her absence. I don't have the strength or the will to coddle him any more and deal with his moods..."I received this book in exchange for an honest review.