"The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World" by Laura Imai Messina tells a fictional story about a real place. In Japan, someone set up a "wind phone," an unhooked device designed to communicate with lost loved ones after the tsunami.
The main character, Yui, often brings
…more herself to the garden, but it takes her a long while to gather up the courage to communicate with her departed daughter and mother. Finally, she meets Takeshi, a doctor who lost his wife and whose daughter has refused to speak since her mother's passing.
Grief, as we all know, is a journey and the author makes it a point to show how that path differs for everyone. Yui's journey is the stuff of the novel. Could she accept someone new in her life after having her peace ripped away?
After readings tons of books like this, I should have expected romance to become a factor. At first, you fight it as predictable but then realize that allowing someone else in is an inevitable part of the process.
In the shortest 400 pages I read, I felt like I was experiencing Yui and Takeshi's pain. The hardest thing for an author is to find hope in tragedy, and Messina leaves you feeling able to confront any hardship. (less)
Power Reviewer
