Friday, April 27, 2012

Review: Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie

Publisher: Harper Collins Canada
Pages: 368
Received: Received from the publisher through Netgalley

Release Date: May 1, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy from Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

When everyone thinks you’re dead, how do you start your life over again?

Emma Tupper, a young lawyer with a bright future, sets out on a journey after her mother’s death: to Africa, a place her mother always wanted to visit. But her mother’s dying gift has unexpected consequences. Emma falls ill during the trip and is just recovering when a massive earthquake hits, turning her one-month vacation into a six-month ordeal.

When Emma returns home, she’s shocked to find that her friends and colleagues believed she was dead, that her apartment has been rented to a stranger and that her life has gone on without her. Can Emma pick up where she left off? Should she? As Emma struggles to recreate her old life, everyone around her thinks she should change – her job, her relationships, and even herself. But does she really want to sacrifice everything she’s working so hard to gain? - read one of her other books and adore her writing

My Review:

I really loved the premise of this novel, what would you do if everyone in your life thought you were dead. The synopsis is very intriguing making you think about would you start your life over after something like this? The thing that really caught my attention with this book is that something like this could happen to anyone. With all these natural disasters, many people end up missing without a way to contact family/friends.

This book was surprisingly a quick read, I found myself curled up on the couch and before I knew it I was finished it (in one nice long sitting). I just could never find a good moment to tear myself away from the book.

Catherine's writing is beautiful and she draws you into the story right from the beginning. Her characters have so much personality to them, they are people you see yourself being friends with (Emma's best friend Stephanie has an idea of a bookstore/dating enterprise which I thought was amazing!) It was interesting to follow Emma on her path to get back her life and by doing so she really takes a look at her life before her trip and her path to rediscover herself and change.

When I finished I found that this book was so much more than a light and funny chick lit book, Catherine really tries to put the reader in Emma's situation. There are so many lines throughout the book that really make you think about life, one of my favourite parts in the book is when Emma mentions playing the "Stuck on a Desert Island game when she was a kid and how she horrible at it, and then she found herself in that exact situation with nothing" (I'm horrible at that game as well and after this book I feel like I should get better at it now.) But my favourite line is near the end when Emma says "Life doesn't wait. You have to make it happen. You have to live it while it's happening around you. Life moves on."

This book will definitely stick with you for a time after you finish it. Definitely pick this one up as a great summer read. Catherine has an amazing talent with her words, and this book is definitely my favourite of hers. 

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