Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Sunset

This really was not what I was expecting- from the blurb I was hoping for an easy read about some sisters on their holiday, but instead it turned pretty quickly into one characters devastating recovery from loss.
I hope I can come back to this book one day as I feel like it describes grief in such a raw, realistic way.

The 87 pages I did read ripped me open, kept me up at night and broke my heart all over again.

A delicate read for anyone with a close sibling relationship and an irrational fear of death (nice and specific).

Also majorly in need of some trigger warnings for graphic injury detail.

Content Warnings

abbruzzese's review

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I wish I had stayed up for longer. I wish I had watched her sleeping, I wish we’d had one more chat about nothing or one more episode. I wish I had known.

Holy fuck. I don't think I've ever gotten so worked up, so snotty-nosed, over a book. I was in tears—big, fat, shaking sobs—for most of it. This is so well done, I loved it. But I will never read it again because it hurts too much.

The time jumps were a bit confusing in the beginning, but I wouldn't have wanted it any different. I can't imagine a book about grief organized in a linear, chronological way, as if grief gives a shit about the concept of forward progress or moving on. Ruth's grief is written so honestly—ugly thoughts and bad actions included—that it is physically painful to imagine being her. The writing is simple and relatable, which hurts more as it's so easy to see myself in the story. IMO, Jessie Cave writes similarly to Sally Rooney, but Cave's writing is a million times more tolerable.

I don’t want to get in the car, I can’t leave my sister. But the driver opens the car door and suddenly, I am. I’m leaving her.

I wonder what this book feels like to people without siblings. As someone with two sisters, both younger than me—the Ruths to my Hannah—this book tore me apart. I loved my sisters before I started reading, and I love them now that I've finished, but it's different. Something about being reminded that one day I will lose them hurts so badly and in such a way that the fact that they're still alive and well doesn't fix the ache in me.

Brooke, Eden—I love you.

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