 |
|
|
Book Review Archives
Title: More than Good-bye
Author: S. Carol Crovo
Publisher: Tate Publishing
Copyright: 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1-61566-981-3
Genre: Fiction
Book Size: 246 pages
Reviewer: Deborah Porter
Available Through:
Tate Publishing:
http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61566-981-3
If you were given the chance to experience your life all over again, without being able to change a thing, would you do it?
That's the choice given to Ms. Crovo's main character, in her very imaginative first novel, More than Good-bye.
At the age of fifty-six, immediately after her thirty-fifth wedding anniversary party, Jane Bell suddenly finds herself on a strange, but beautiful, Victorian-style railway station, watching two steam trains waiting to go in different directions. Not knowing how she arrived there, or even where she is, Jane is more than a little confused.
When a friendly young man sits down beside her, she is horrified to discover that she was killed in a car accident and now has two choices to make as to the next part of her journey. She can either go on to the next stage (which is still unknown to her), or she can go back to any point of her life and experience it all again--the good and the bad. Not in a reincarnated form, but rather by stepping back into that time, exactly as it happened.
Once Jane accepts the young man's explanation (something that, understandably, doesn't happen straight away), she chooses to take the journey back through her life. Her hope is that this will help her to eventually become reconciled with the fact that her physical life on earth is now over, and to be able to find some way to say good-bye to those she left behind. Given the opportunity to choose her own starting point, Jane decides to go back to a day full of very happy memories--her sister's eighth birthday.
The quite simple, but charming, story of Jane's life unfolds from that point on, and continues through to the moment just before her death, forty-six years later.
"Golden Boy" (the young man at the station), acts as Jane's guide during this experience, popping in now and then to check on Jane's progress and discuss what she is discovering from this second journey through her life.
The catch is that Jane is only aware of her real circumstances when Golden Boy is with her. At all other times, she is living in the moment of her life, with all her reactions and actions exactly as they were originally, and completely unaware that this is not happening for the first time. However, in spite of this lack of awareness, every experience is heightened so that she has a greater appreciation of the events and people that were a part of her life experience.
Although some of the finer crafting details in this first novel could have benefitted from a little more polish, the actual storytelling is very good indeed. Ms. Crovo brings her characters to life in a way that connects strongly with the reader. Somewhat surprisingly, the main character, Jane, is possibly the least interesting of all the very lively characters in the book. Even so, the simple story of her life, as it unfolds for the second time, is one that kept me turning pages to the very end. Quite an achievement given that the reader knows right from the start how the story will finish.
The ending does hold one little surprise, but clued in readers will probably begin to suspect the tiny twist about halfway into the book. However, having that suspicion confirmed doesn't lessen the pleasure of the conclusion.
To fully enjoy More than Good-bye, readers may need to turn off their theological critic, as the premise for this book may raise some eyebrows and questions. However, it is a novel best read purely as fiction, with an appreciation of the gentle message of love and eternity flowing from start to finish.
As a storyteller, this author has loads of potential, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from her in the future.
|
|
|
|
|
