Tuesday, January 31, 2017

I Liked My Life

Title: I Liked My Life
Author: Abby Fabiaschi
Published: January 31st 2017 by St. Martin's Press
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 272 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Have you ever read a book where you have loved and cheered on every character? ‘I Liked My Life’ is that kind of book. Told from multiple perspectives the reader is brought into the lives of the Starling family after the suicide of Madeline.

What her family cannot come to terms with is that she showed no signs of depression or suicidal tendencies, there was no note only a shopping and errand list left on the counter. Eve, her usual self-absorbed sixteen year old daughter, was being more independent by the day and her work obsessed husband Brady were her world. Through there were difficult times, she loved her life, so why did she pick that day to die in such a horrendous way?

Neither Madeline nor Brady had happy childhoods and they were determined to make a better life for Eve. Each expresses their frustrations in alternating chapters. As Maddy watches over her family, she realizes that she has the ability to influence them. A whisper, a nudge, just the merest of things, to let them know that Maddy is still looking out for them. Pointing them and those around them in the right direction or reminding them of her love or special times. She even gets creative and tries a bit of matchmaking. Where she found or even knew about Rory was a confusion to me, but I let that part slide. As they rail against the sudden loss of their mother and wife, they know that she guides them. Yet, if she cared and loved them so much, why did she end her life?

As Maddy relays her thoughts and connections are made, she can feel her own ascension. When it becomes more challenging for her to hear or to be heard, she knows that her time is limited – this is when she makes one last push and relaying the most important message of all. One that will change everyone’s understanding of the day that changed all of their lives.

Though there are a few lulls, debut author Abby Fabiaschi has given her readers a wonderful book, I found myself rereading many passages because there is startling insight in this book. Quotable sections that you find have meaning in not only your life, but in the lives of those around you.

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