My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Dr. Steve Maraboli, who is a life-changing Speaker, bestselling Author, and Behavioral Science Academic in the US, has quoted remarkably, about how people should let go of certain grudges in their life, as;
“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”
Elizabeth Bass, an American author, has marvelously crafted a profound tale about love, loss, and forgiveness, in her book called, The Way Back to Happiness . Although it is a fiction, but still the story sounded quite realistic to me, and tells me do we ever follow the noble words of what Dr. Steve Maraboli has said about forgiveness? Do we ever let go of our past? And most important, we find it hard to forgive ourselves in the first place, because we are masters in feeling ourselves guilty for our whole lifetime. Elizabeth Bass, the author, has skillfully explained the road to forgiveness, which is happened to be so less traveled by us.
Synopsis:
Alabama is a fourteen year old girl, who in her so short life-time has already experienced so many dreadful things, starting off with her mother's death in an accident, leaving her almost orphaned. Her granny, Gladdie, who is as old as the hills, living in The Villa- an old-age home, takes her in for a few days, against the wishes of the The Villa's manager. But Alabama's blissful days come to an end, when she gets adopted by her only aunt, Bev, whom her mother used to hate all her life, but she had no idea behind the reason of her mother's hate, along with her mother, Alabama, too hated her to death. But soon Alabama is seen living in a small town in Texas, called New Sparta, and is getting admitted to the local school, where her aunt happen to be a teacher. Eventually Alabama starts to look for her late father's side’s family, in hope of finding a benefactress. Bev is terrified that Alabama is starting to bring back all those haunting and resentful and painful traumas of the past one more time. Will Alabama be successful in getting away from her aunt? Will Bev learn to forgive herself as well as her sister? Read it to find Alabama and Bev's struggle to find a piece of happiness in their not-so-perfect life.
First of all, the book's name should have been something else, because there was only one page about happiness, rest of the pages reflect way too much pain, that in the beginning I started to hate Alabama with all my heart, since she used to be so rude to Bev, then I started loving her. I cried for Bev then for Alabama and lastly for Diana, the mother of Alabama. The characters are so very convincing and are easy to relate to, who doesn't face such characters in their everyday life, and I will actually say that Bev, Alabama and Diana are very similar to our characters; they happen to represent our pain, grief and loss. I loved how the author has narrated her tale with so vividness and eloquence, and then at some moments you'll lose yourself completely in the emotions of these characters. It is quite evident that Elizabeth Bass is one true talented writer starting from her style of writing to representing the dialogues to unfolding the characters slowly and layer-by-layer. I must tell you like Alabama, you too are left in the dark about Bev and Dian's past incident, and the anticipation held me like a noose around my neck. The author is smart enough to keep her secrets under wrap for a very long time and also she didn't leave any clues for the readers. There is also bit of chemistry among so many characters that you'll find very striking, staring off between Alabama and her best friend, Stuart, who is a very smart and talented young boy, who used to see through the things and was a victim of bullying in his school, then there is, Bev and her co-teacher, Glen.
Verdict: Do read this story in your gloomy little afternoon with a box of tissues along with a mug of hot tea and feel the Texas flair in the author's words!!
Courtesy: I can't thank the author, Elizabeth Bass, enough for sending me over a copy of her book, in return for an honest review.
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Author Info:
The youngest of four children, Elizabeth Bass grew up outside of a very small town in East Texas in pre-NetFlix days. The first loves in her life were animals and Humphrey Bogart. Had it not been for a father who kept the house full of books and some tireless elementary school teachers, she could have happily remained an illiterate rabbit caretaker addicted to black-and-white films on the late late show.
Before writing Miss You Most of All, she published thirty romance and women’s fiction novels under the name Liz Ireland and co-authored two Regencies with her sister as Alexandra Bassett.
She lives with her husband in Montreal, where she writes and does freelance editing. An elderly cat or dog (or two…or four) can usually be found in her apartment, and during the busiest day she can often find time to sneak in an old movie.
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