A review by ispeakbooknerd
Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls
5.0
Oh, Charlie Lewis.
Sweet Sorrow is a delicious, nostalgic, Shakespeare-filled morsel about the difficulties of coming of age, first love, and self-discovery. Set in the UK, Charlie is now 38 and soon to be married. He's received an email about a meetup with others who took part in a play he was in at 16. This causes him to think back on this important time in his life and recount it from start to end, to future, for the reader. Much of this time focuses on his first love, a girl named Fran Fisher.
The characters are rich and nuanced. My emotional strings were tugged and I found myself in tears on a couple of occasions, laughing at others, and remembering my own first love. Charlie grew tremendously as a person throughout the tale. And the telling of his first romance... so sweet.. it takes me back. I can remember feeling what he felt and thinking the things he thought and worried over. As a mother myself, there were also times I just wanted to give him a big squeezy, squishy hug. He endured things no kid should have to endure, although for the most part, his childhood was good.
The book is lengthy, but didn't 'feel' long in the reading. The language is mostly simple, although translating what Shakespeare is saying can be hit or miss for me, admittedly. I thought Nicholls did a fantabulous job of transporting me back to that age, even to that particular year, when I still would've been more of Charlie's younger sister's age. He referenced just enough events and music from the time period to make it work.
I would happily recommend this to anyone. It was a lovely read.
Sweet Sorrow is a delicious, nostalgic, Shakespeare-filled morsel about the difficulties of coming of age, first love, and self-discovery. Set in the UK, Charlie is now 38 and soon to be married. He's received an email about a meetup with others who took part in a play he was in at 16. This causes him to think back on this important time in his life and recount it from start to end, to future, for the reader. Much of this time focuses on his first love, a girl named Fran Fisher.
The characters are rich and nuanced. My emotional strings were tugged and I found myself in tears on a couple of occasions, laughing at others, and remembering my own first love. Charlie grew tremendously as a person throughout the tale. And the telling of his first romance... so sweet.. it takes me back. I can remember feeling what he felt and thinking the things he thought and worried over. As a mother myself, there were also times I just wanted to give him a big squeezy, squishy hug. He endured things no kid should have to endure, although for the most part, his childhood was good.
The book is lengthy, but didn't 'feel' long in the reading. The language is mostly simple, although translating what Shakespeare is saying can be hit or miss for me, admittedly. I thought Nicholls did a fantabulous job of transporting me back to that age, even to that particular year, when I still would've been more of Charlie's younger sister's age. He referenced just enough events and music from the time period to make it work.
I would happily recommend this to anyone. It was a lovely read.