Book Review | Through a Glass, Darkly by Jostein Gaarder

Through A Glass Darkly – Buy this book

Rating

5 stars – Thought-provoking and breath-taking

Description

As Cecilia lies ill in bed and her family valiantly make their Christmas preparations in the knowledge that she is not going to get better, an angel steps through her window.

Why did you read this book?

I’m a member of ReaditSwapit.co.uk and received a request for one of my books from another member, this book was on her swap list and I thought it sounded quite interesting.

The Book Review

I could review this book in just one word: wow.

It’s exquisite, breath-taking, thought-provoking, sentimental, heart-warming – do I sound like a cliche? I mean every single word!

I had to take a train to a meeting yesterday – the journey took just over an hour and a half and in that time I read this book from cover to cover. At 161 pages its not a particularly long book – but I have a feeling that if I hadn’t finished it by the time I reached my stop I would have just stayed on board until I did.

This is the story of Cecilia; a young girl who lies ill in bed as her family celebrate Christmas downstairs, in the knowledge that Cecilia will not live to see another Christmas. I don’t know how old Cecilia is, or what illness she has, but it didn’t seem important. That’s not the focus of the novel – it’s about the interactions between Cecilia and her angel; a ‘boy’ by the name of Ariel who likes to talk about life and death and the differences between Heaven and Earth, angels and humans.

The conversations between Cecilia and her angel, and the interactions with her family subtly change as time passes, from feeling anger and denial, to hope and despair, as Cecilia finally reaches a calm acceptance of what will happen to her.

This novel is unlike anything I’ve ever read before, it made me think about so many things, about our bodies and our health and our families and the things we take for granted. About the differences between Heaven and Earth and whether there really are such things as angels.

This is a really difficult novel to review – the only thing I can say is – lay your hands on a copy, set aside a couple of hours, curl up in a chair and experience it for yourself.

Oh and make sure you pick up Through a Glass, Darkly by Jostein Gaarder – it seems to be a popular book title for quite a few authors!

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