Connections

Thank you, Book Bub! This book was featured in a recent daily email and at first I thought it sounded too treacly and maudlin, but after sampling it on Amazon, I downloaded the book for cheap and raced through it in a day. The prose is lyrical without being flowery or overblown and the scope of the novel felt very cinematic. Following seemingly disparate characters in different time periods, this book explores the ways we are connected to each other and to the world.  I was swept along through modern day LA and wartime France and many points in between, savoring each story and re-reading some parts then racing on.

We drop in on the lives, thoughts and deeds of a Frenchman working in a retirement home for showbiz types in LA,  an American WWII fighter pilot, a blind museum creator,  a famous film director, the lone survivor of a German platoon. As the story goes back and forth through time the connections drop seamlessly into place. My cynical side wanted to find fault with all the coincidences but thankfully the heart and soul of this book overpowered me. A day later I am still thinking about Martin and Mr Hugo, John and Amelia, Danny and Sebastien. I can feel the heat of the fire at the farmhouse as Mr Hugo rescues an infant boy, can hear the tinkle of the bell over the door at the little French bakery in LA, am chilled as John struggles way across rural France after his plane is down.

So glad this gem landed in my inbox and I’m on the hunt for more of this writers books.

I think people would be happier if they admitted things more often. In a sense, we are all prisoners of some memory, or fear, or disappointment-we are all defined by something we cannot change.