What a SENSITIVE, HEARTWARMING, ENGAGING book. I don't cry very often, but I have to admit that I welled up nearing the end of this book.
Debut novelist, SOFIA LUNDBERG chose a beautiful premise for her story.....
For her 10th Birthday, DORIS received a RED LEATHER ADDRESS BOOK from her father - "You can collect all your friends in it. Everyone you meet during your life. In all the exciting places you'll visit. So you don't forget."
DORIS is now 96 years old, living back in SWEDEN, where she started. She's facing her mortality and in looking back on her life, she's reminiscing her relationship with each of the people in her RED ADDRESS BOOK. She's also documenting "their stories" for her only living relative, grand-niece JENNY - "I'll give you my memories. They're the most beautiful thing I have."
JENNY lives a world away in SAN FRANCISCO. Thankfully they have SKYPE for weekly visits.
This is a book that will stick with me. It's filled with one woman's EMOTIONS, MEMORIES, and REVELATIONS as she remembers all of her MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS. Each of her family members - her devoted, loving, platonic relationship with GOSTA - the memory of the LOVE she felt for ALLAN.......
As I normally do, here are a few excerpts to WHET YOUR READING APPETITE!
Pg 33
"I wish you enough," she whispered in my ear. "Enough sun to light up your days, enough rain that you appreciate the sun. Enough joy to strengthen your soul, enough pain that you can appreciate life's small moments of happiness. And enough friends that you can manage a farewell now and then."
Pg 50
"He never asked me about myself. I don't think he even knew which county I came from. He wasn't interested in what was going on in my head. That might be one of the most degrading things you can subject someone to, not caring about their mind."
Pg 78
"A beautiful person is listened to, admired. This became all too clear to me later in life, when my skin suddenly lost its elasticity and my hair started to turn white. When people stopped looking at me as I walked through a room. That day will arrive. For everyone."
Pg 125
"Everone experiences setbacks in life. They change us. Sometimes we notice; other times they happen without our knowledge. But the pain, that's there the whole time, piled high in our hearts, like clenched fists ready to break free."
Pg 130
"It's difficult being old and unwell, unable to decide for yourself when you're rested, tired, or somewhere in between and what you should or shouldn't do about it."
Pg 230
"The city hung over us like a constant shadow of the past, when everything had seemed so much better. In truth, it still hangs there today. In the furniture, the French books, the paintings. Paris is the city that captured our souls."
This last paragraph resonates with me. PARIS has certainly captured MY SOUL!!
JOAN
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