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Book ReviewsDiving Through Clouds |
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Book: Diving Through Clouds
Written by: Nicola Lindsay |
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
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Midwest Book Review - humor, rage, sorrow in pure prose
Rating:
5 / 5
Irish author Nicola Lindsay has accomplished what few writers could. She took an unlikely premise - a departed woman's spirit caught in Limbo - and created a beautiful story. Written in the first person, from the bewildered spirit-woman's perspective, Ms. Lindsay had me hooked from the first line of the first paragraph.
Kate is a fiftyish woman who dies after a long and dreadful illness. At her side when death comes is her flamboyant best friend, Veronica, and her coldly stoic husband, William. Absent from her life is Celia, a daughter who abandoned her parents' sham marriage eight years prior. Kate is definitely dead, but lingers in ghostly form to witness the lives and read the thoughts of those who loved her, as well as those who didn't.
William and Kate shared an almost totally loveless marriage for thirty years. William hasn't looked at her, REALLY looked at her as a woman, since the early years of life together. Except for a too-brief period of infidelity with the younger Milo, who adored her, Kate's life has been bereft of joy.
With the aid and guidance of her guardian angel, Thomas, Kate hovers in and about the lives of her husband, friend, daughter Celia, and grandson Matt. Over time, Kate begins to understand that before she can progress to what Thomas assures her is a wonderful new place, she must address the awful mess that was her life on earth. Kate works at tying up loose ends, gaining wisdom and insight into the lives of those closest to her. An amazing end is wrought, with William, Milo, Celia and Kate drawn together in their struggle to save a dying Matt.
The beauty and wonder of Diving Through Clouds is experienced in the author's writing. I found myself awed by and envying her skill as wordsmith. From Kate's self-deprecating humor, her sorrow and anger at revealed secrets, to descriptive passages that help the reader see and feel each scene, Ms. Lindsay's prose is pure, revelatory.
This is a book for adults and mature adolescents. I recommend it.
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