AnnaLund2011

No spoilers here, just feels. A lot of feels. 

There is a drowning. Benjamin's daddy, Big Eddie, drowns in the river.
Then there is the drowning that Benjamin is going through, the drowning in sorrow and pain. 
This story then goes from normal How to handle Loss, into strict paranormal and religious. And I hate the religious. Only here? It works. 

It works so well, I am astonished. I fell headlong into the story, and I fell headlong in love with Benjamin. Cal took me a moment to warm up to, but feathers aside, he was a fantastic character, true and steady.

The writing is classy, then gritty, and then downright beautiful. Never clichéd, and with very few errors. (I think I found two, which is really, really good these days). 

I love how Mr Klune uses phrasing and italics, spacing and em-dashes to take us back and forth in the story, to the past, back to the present and back again. All without losing me on the way, which is some feat. (I am both easily lost and easily confused). Very clever use of the text medium to convey thoughts, feelings, dreams and reality.

Yeah, reality gets to be put on hold here for a while. And I do so very willingly, because Mr Klune just takes me by the hand and RUNS with me. This is my fourth book from him, and I keep saying the same things: I love his way of writing, words just fall perfectly in their places, and they arrive at the exact time when I need them. I drown in his words. 

At the end I had a hilarious flash of a bunch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even if Rafael was the only name that coincided... The interaction and banter between them was exactly the same, however, and I laughed through my tears.

So many emotions going on here, both in the story and in me. 

This is what a good story does, it takes me to another place, where I can live for a while, and feel all the emotions of people I have never met. It's a kind of magic.

And TJ Klune is quite the magician.

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I was NOT asked to read this book by anyone, I paid for it with my own money.