"The Rescue" - Book Review Journal Entry #2

"The Rescue" - by Nicholas Sparks

".... Denise Holton decided life was like manure. When used in a garden, manure was fertilizer. Effective and inexpensive, it provided nourishment to the soil and helped the garden become as beautiful as it could be. But outside of the garden - in a pasture for instance - when stepped in inadvertently, manure was nothing more then crap..." pg 65

I liked this quote because it really rings true, when things are going good they are great, when life is going good it's more difficult to really feel the blow of tragedy. But when it takes a turn for the worse, it's really an awful place to be. It seems our attitudes "fertilize" our life, perspective is always much clearer with a clear head and a light heart, but a heavy heart and conflict lead to a perspective that is tainted. There are lots of bad things in life that certainly do contribute to the greater good, and though on a small scale, or in a different setting they are seen as notorious. But sometimes is certainly rings true that the bad makes the good better. The struggles real do shape you into a stronger person, but when you are stuck in the thick of it, it sure doesn't feel that way.
"...It took me a long time to understand that distance can ruin even the best of intentions.... People come, people go - they drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past." pg 80

I do believe that people come into your life at a certain time for a certain reason, and maybe that person isn't meant to stay forever, but to teach you something important about yourself or about life. Distance isn't an easy obstacle to overcome, especially without endurance. It's hard to let go of old friends, or to discover they didn't turn out to be who you thought they were, but if you spend too much time focusing on that you miss out on the opportunities for friendship all around you. Once you are able to regain perspective after the loss of the friendship it is easy to immerse yourself in a new.

Overall, I loved this book, its a great book for someone whose experienced a loss and immersed themselves full throttle in life in an effort to drown out there grief, or make themselves busy in an effort to shift focus, this book will really speak to you. Once again Nicolas Sparks, an excellent read!!

Amy

"The Rescue" - Nicholas Sparks Book Review Journal #1

"The Rescue" - Nicolas Sparks

This book is about a single mother, Denise, who is in a car accident where her son, who has a severe learning disability, disappears. He is rescued by a "risks it all" volunteer firefighter, Taylor. A relationship between Taylor, Kyle (the son) and Denise emerges from all of this trauma. This book delves into the complexity of a relationship between a mother and son, a hero and a boy, and a woman and man, and each character takes on a life of it's own. "The Rescue", is all about pushing life to the limits, and Taylor can physically do this at the drop of a hat, but when someone needs emotional rescuing, Taylor might be on the receiving end this time. I really LOVED this book. It hit home with the things my hubby goes through being on the volunteer fire department myself, and in addition to that it was a great story. I would highly recommend this book.

"Youth offers the promise of happiness, but life offers the realities of grief" (pg 15)

I loved this quote because it is so true, as a kid, I really didn't have that many cares, but I had more then a typical kid because I spent a lot of time dealing with a physical "disability" (I never ever call it that - but in reality that is what it has come to be). When I was born there were complications and I required emergency intravenous, and when the Dr's attempted to put the IV in they severed the tendon of my left wrist. At first my one finger was just bent up a little at the end, but it progressed as I grew. So after rounds of testing they determined that I required surgery, and upon doing surgery discovered I had a connective tissue disorder (aka I make scar tissue very rapidly and abundantly). After my surgeries I spent a lot of time focused on if I just do this physio then my hand will get better and I will be "happy", all the while not being terribly unhappy, just dealing with being different from other kids (which when you are a kid is hard). Eventually (14 years into physio every day an hr from my house plus hrs of exercises at home and very little improvement in range of motion), I decided I was done with trying to do this and be happy, I'd rather just be this and happy. So I quit, I instead joined the baseball, basketball, volleyball team and pushed myself, did things I wasn't allowed to do while I was doing physio. And I loved it. So for me this quote speaks to me, as a young child I was promised this elusive happiness, but was given the realities of life, and I needed to grieve those losses in order to really be happy, to be content in my own skin.

"Kyle. Sweet Kyle. Simply thinking about thinking about him made her smile. No, she decided, it wouldn't better (without Kyle). If there was one bright spot in her life, he was it. Funny how he could drive her crazy and still make her love him for it." pg 67

I loved this quote simply because as a mother, I often feel the same way. Hannah is two, she's testing the limits like no tomorrow, but later, when I am venting to my mom and sister about her latest shenanigans, and offering them my two year old, I notice that I am smiling when I am telling them this story about a little girl who has done something I would NEVER tolerate anyone doing, but I am smiling. Even the times she tests me like no tomorrow elicit a smile. Who could have ever imagined loving someone that much. She really can drive me crazy, and make me love her more for it.

Stay tuned for the rest of this book review!!

Amy