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A review by sunshine608
The World Without You by Joshua Henkin
2.0
I had high hopes for this book, but it fell a little short for me.
The character's started out interesting but Noelle the former fast girl turned Orthodox Jew, married and living in Israel. The middle child Clarissa struggling with the beginning of infertility and the baby Lily, struggling with how to define herself and her relationship with her boyfriend of 10 years. All return to their family's summer home on the anniversary of their baby brother's Leo's death and the unveiling of his "marker"(?). I was initially intrigued by all the character's, including the parents who use this time to announce their intent to divorce. However about half way in it felt like Noelle took up a lot of the story and I grew bored with her and her marriage to Anram. Lilly didn't really flesh out, most of her scenes and back story seemed to involved Leo's widow Thisbe whom once you got over the name ( or maybe I'm just becoming a cynic about names), you could enjoy.
THe climax of the book seemed to be the memorial service which was just tributes to Leo and not a lot of action. After that the book seemed to continue downhill, a random showing by the long, lost ( or rather reclusive grandmother) and honestly a lot of other stuff that I couldn't get into.
I'm not sure of this was more a case of too much hype( i even pledged to read this to get my grandmother a copy of the O magazine) or what but I wasn't feeling it at all. I hurried through the end and almost missed a key plot point but I was just wanting to get to the end.
The character's started out interesting but Noelle the former fast girl turned Orthodox Jew, married and living in Israel. The middle child Clarissa struggling with the beginning of infertility and the baby Lily, struggling with how to define herself and her relationship with her boyfriend of 10 years. All return to their family's summer home on the anniversary of their baby brother's Leo's death and the unveiling of his "marker"(?). I was initially intrigued by all the character's, including the parents who use this time to announce their intent to divorce. However about half way in it felt like Noelle took up a lot of the story and I grew bored with her and her marriage to Anram. Lilly didn't really flesh out, most of her scenes and back story seemed to involved Leo's widow Thisbe whom once you got over the name ( or maybe I'm just becoming a cynic about names), you could enjoy.
THe climax of the book seemed to be the memorial service which was just tributes to Leo and not a lot of action. After that the book seemed to continue downhill, a random showing by the long, lost ( or rather reclusive grandmother) and honestly a lot of other stuff that I couldn't get into.
I'm not sure of this was more a case of too much hype( i even pledged to read this to get my grandmother a copy of the O magazine) or what but I wasn't feeling it at all. I hurried through the end and almost missed a key plot point but I was just wanting to get to the end.