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tanellenash's review
5.0
I was given an ARC of this book by the Dewey Divas and wanted to thank them. This book was amazing, it was complex and interesting and was one that I had to force myself to put down at night to get some sleep.
I loved the location, I've had a chance to spend time sailing Gulf Islands on the Canadian side so reading the description of the San Juan Islands brought back memories.
Maggie is an international photographer that's a bit of a free-spirit. She gets a phone call that her best friend has been killed in an accident and she races home to their summer house in the San Juan Islands to deal with the aftermath. The book deals with some complex themes (unrequited love, suicide attempts, etc) but it does it in a way that doesn't trivialize them.
I loved the location, I've had a chance to spend time sailing Gulf Islands on the Canadian side so reading the description of the San Juan Islands brought back memories.
Maggie is an international photographer that's a bit of a free-spirit. She gets a phone call that her best friend has been killed in an accident and she races home to their summer house in the San Juan Islands to deal with the aftermath. The book deals with some complex themes (unrequited love, suicide attempts, etc) but it does it in a way that doesn't trivialize them.
chelseavk's review
4.0
For my full, non-spoiler review: https://christianlovingbooks.blogspot.com/2019/03/ascension-of-larks-review.html
jen_newendyke's review against another edition
5.0
This is a heartwarming story; bittersweet at times, but powerful and touching. I love Rachel Linden’s writing style, and the way she turned big ideas like forgiveness, faithfulness, love, and family into a down-to-earth story we can all relate to. This is the second book of hers I’ve read, and I will definitely be watching for whatever she writes next!
fiction_aficionado's review against another edition
4.0
This was a beautiful and engaging read. Rachel Linden’s writing style alone—lyrical and full of imagery—is enough to make me eager for another book from her. The fact that it tells a story that tugs at the heartstrings is an added, and very welcome bonus.
Maggie was a quietly intense character, driven by her desire to capture beautiful images—“intimate portrayals of daily life around the globe that highlighted people often unseen by the camera’s eye...striking in their display of basic humanity, their sense of real life in all its grit and vibrancy, its specific and often brutal beauty.” And yet when she was first offered a place with Alistair Finney’s prestigious agency, he warned her that she had a flaw as a photographer: “You’re removed from your subjects, the observer who never quite enters in... Life has to be touched and tasted and smelled in all its bloody, messy glory...You have to live in the world, not just observe it.”
Touching, tasting, and smelling life in all its bloody, messy glory is exactly what Maggie does when she goes to comfort Lena after the death of her husband, Marco. This is a complex and emotionally involved process for Maggie, for many reasons that I won’t share here as that would spoil the story, but I will say that she has to deal with the loss of Marcus on more than one level. Not only that, but the need to care for Lena and her children comes at the same time as a once in a lifetime career opportunity, and she can’t do both. For a woman who has always been driven to succeed in her career, it's a difficult decision to make.
The one thing I wasn’t entirely sold on in this story was the element of mysticism. It wasn’t a large element, but I felt as though the characters drew more comfort from their improvised ceremony based on the practice of ‘beckoning’—helping the dead person’s soul find its way to heaven—than they did from God. True, it was largely for the benefit of the children, to give them a tangible way of dealing with what had happened (and there was some staunch Lutheran disapproval from one of the characters, who did end up praying during the ceremony), but it comprised the larger part of the ‘spiritual’ content in the novel, which seemed a little odd from a Christian publisher.
Nevertheless, this was a poignant story of working through loss and discovering what’s important in life; of learning to live in the world and not just observe it; and of learning to embrace life in all its bloody, messy glory.
I received a copy of this novel through TLC Book Tours. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Maggie was a quietly intense character, driven by her desire to capture beautiful images—“intimate portrayals of daily life around the globe that highlighted people often unseen by the camera’s eye...striking in their display of basic humanity, their sense of real life in all its grit and vibrancy, its specific and often brutal beauty.” And yet when she was first offered a place with Alistair Finney’s prestigious agency, he warned her that she had a flaw as a photographer: “You’re removed from your subjects, the observer who never quite enters in... Life has to be touched and tasted and smelled in all its bloody, messy glory...You have to live in the world, not just observe it.”
Touching, tasting, and smelling life in all its bloody, messy glory is exactly what Maggie does when she goes to comfort Lena after the death of her husband, Marco. This is a complex and emotionally involved process for Maggie, for many reasons that I won’t share here as that would spoil the story, but I will say that she has to deal with the loss of Marcus on more than one level. Not only that, but the need to care for Lena and her children comes at the same time as a once in a lifetime career opportunity, and she can’t do both. For a woman who has always been driven to succeed in her career, it's a difficult decision to make.
The one thing I wasn’t entirely sold on in this story was the element of mysticism. It wasn’t a large element, but I felt as though the characters drew more comfort from their improvised ceremony based on the practice of ‘beckoning’—helping the dead person’s soul find its way to heaven—than they did from God. True, it was largely for the benefit of the children, to give them a tangible way of dealing with what had happened (and there was some staunch Lutheran disapproval from one of the characters, who did end up praying during the ceremony), but it comprised the larger part of the ‘spiritual’ content in the novel, which seemed a little odd from a Christian publisher.
Nevertheless, this was a poignant story of working through loss and discovering what’s important in life; of learning to live in the world and not just observe it; and of learning to embrace life in all its bloody, messy glory.
I received a copy of this novel through TLC Book Tours. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.