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A review by okiecozyreader
A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
So glad to have a 5 star read after a lot of 3 and 4 star reads! (This is probably my favorite book since October!) This story contains 3 stories, of neighbors in an apartment building, who are all dealing with loss and how they show compassion in each other’s lives.
Chuck Ayers is mourning the loss of his wife, Cat, and stuck in a life without her.
Kirsten Bonato is mourning the loss of her father, while trying to forge a life working at an animal shelter.
Ella Burke realized one day that her daughter wasn’t on her bus, and was checked out from school by her husband, unexpectedly, and cannot be found.
Sometimes I don’t love having a bunch of characters, but I really felt like I got to know each and was invested in each life. I loved the little kindnesses and generosity of spirit in these characters.
“It had seemed like a goal they would never realize, being free and limitless.” Ch 3
““I think that’s what I want: to make some sense of it all.” Ch 7
“In some ways, he never thought his children would be gone one day, or that he and Cat would fade away. Is life all about those sweet denials, the ability to trick oneself in order to be happy?” … “and he doesn’t want time to happen anymore—or for Cat to be forgotten.” Ch 9
“…The Telephone Repairman,” by Joseph Millar. She reads it and two lines near the end jump out at her:
We live so much of our lives
without telling anyone.”
Ch 11
“Is Natasha an extension of this? Just another small regret among all the regrets he has? Why does she feel so important? Why did that fight over her dent him so badly?” Ch 13
““It’s crazy, isn’t it?” And he thinks he hears her voice, that smile in it, that singsong quality. He thinks she would say, Yes. Yes. This is that feeling you run toward.” Ch 15
“…cardinals staying around in winter when the other birds leave, and Kirsten never tired of hearing it. “Be someone’s cardinal,” Mrs. A. said.” Ch 28
“So we all have regrets—that’s just what you have when someone dies. Lots of regrets.” Ch 33
“She can never have her dad back, but there is still love. Love everywhere.” Ch 33
“Maybe that is love. Maybe loving someone so deeply means accepting the fact that they occupy a specific, clear place in you. You accept that there will be a hole if you lose them—the same way a painting or photograph will leave its shadow on the wall after it’s gone, the way a tree will leave a crater where the roots and stump were.” Ch 33
“I started this book because one morning I heard a man on the boardwalk say he was making his first trip to Florida without his wife who had died, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him. To that man and his brave journey.” From Acknowledgements
Chuck Ayers is mourning the loss of his wife, Cat, and stuck in a life without her.
Kirsten Bonato is mourning the loss of her father, while trying to forge a life working at an animal shelter.
Ella Burke realized one day that her daughter wasn’t on her bus, and was checked out from school by her husband, unexpectedly, and cannot be found.
Sometimes I don’t love having a bunch of characters, but I really felt like I got to know each and was invested in each life. I loved the little kindnesses and generosity of spirit in these characters.
“It had seemed like a goal they would never realize, being free and limitless.” Ch 3
““I think that’s what I want: to make some sense of it all.” Ch 7
“In some ways, he never thought his children would be gone one day, or that he and Cat would fade away. Is life all about those sweet denials, the ability to trick oneself in order to be happy?” … “and he doesn’t want time to happen anymore—or for Cat to be forgotten.” Ch 9
“…The Telephone Repairman,” by Joseph Millar. She reads it and two lines near the end jump out at her:
We live so much of our lives
without telling anyone.”
Ch 11
“Is Natasha an extension of this? Just another small regret among all the regrets he has? Why does she feel so important? Why did that fight over her dent him so badly?” Ch 13
““It’s crazy, isn’t it?” And he thinks he hears her voice, that smile in it, that singsong quality. He thinks she would say, Yes. Yes. This is that feeling you run toward.” Ch 15
“…cardinals staying around in winter when the other birds leave, and Kirsten never tired of hearing it. “Be someone’s cardinal,” Mrs. A. said.” Ch 28
“So we all have regrets—that’s just what you have when someone dies. Lots of regrets.” Ch 33
“She can never have her dad back, but there is still love. Love everywhere.” Ch 33
“Maybe that is love. Maybe loving someone so deeply means accepting the fact that they occupy a specific, clear place in you. You accept that there will be a hole if you lose them—the same way a painting or photograph will leave its shadow on the wall after it’s gone, the way a tree will leave a crater where the roots and stump were.” Ch 33
“I started this book because one morning I heard a man on the boardwalk say he was making his first trip to Florida without his wife who had died, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him. To that man and his brave journey.” From Acknowledgements
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent