I FINALLY feel like I'm making some headway into getting all my reviews up (though I'm fairly sure I said that back in January and I'm a solid three months behind again). However, this does mean I've got some excellent books to share with you on the way that made for great reads, and I'm so excited to write about them all!
On the Other Side is a story all about love and loss and secrets. 82-year-old Evie dies peacefully in her sleep, but can't quite pass into heaven. Instead she's trapped in a (pretty pleasant) purgatory that exists for her in her old apartment building. Evie's soul is too heavy to pass over into the afterlife; she's too weighed down with the secrets of her past.
Evie's transported back to when she was 27, and deep down she knows exactly what's keeping her at bay, though it's hard to delve into the wounds of her past. Born to a wealthy family, she was forced to leave her one true love, and marry a man with a good title, but in order to leave her past behind her, Evie might have to delve into exactly that, and find her way back to her true self.
The story behind this is like nothing I've heard of, or read before. It really makes me admire Carrie even more because wow it takes a big creative streak to come up with this story. I'm sure there are similar books out there that I've never heard of, but this one really came together well.
The book discusses a whole lot of important topics, including love, loss, friendship and family ties. But one of my favourite things is that the book contained multiple key characters from the LGBTQA community, and that they didn't both have the same sexuality. One character is a gay man who's struggling to come to terms with his feelings in a world and family that has never even considered the possibility of him feeling this way. The other is a pansexual woman who explains being pan in a way that everybody can understand, and I'm so grateful for Carrie putting these in. It's so important that we read diverse books and writers include diverse characters.
There's a whole lot of magical realism in here, so if that's not your thing then you might want to steer clear. But if it is, then this is such a comforting (though tear-jerking) quick read to go for.
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