Scan barcode
A review by cbetch
The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald
4.0
What a story. This book follows mother Abagail Knight as she seeks the truth behind what happened to her daughter Olivia. What caused her to fall and leave her brain dead and pregnant. Over the course of the story hidden relationships, intricacies and feelings are uncovered leaving the reader wanting to know more.
Beyond the plot points though, this book digs deep into themes of grief, pain and loss. I am amazed by McDonalds ability to bring readers back into deep feelings of loss and grief on behalf of the characters close to Oliva. Loving a person is complex and it must go deeper than loving their strengths. Throughout the book the exploration of Olivia’s life allows both the reader and the characters to see more than just her strengths, to see her weaknesses, her struggles and her pain. This is what connects us to Olivia and those who grieve her, to know her life, her love, her loss and her future and to see it so easily wiped away. May we each be loved not only for the good we bring into the world but also for the impact we have in it, may we be loved so deeply that the people around us desire to push past difficulties in order to love.
In the end, I am so great full for the life that came out of Olivia’s death. For her mother, her daughter and the family that formed around her in her last, fictional, days. But I do not see these beauties as something to discount or lighten grief but as an additional feeling. To feel joy and grief. Great fullness, peace, relief and pain. These feelings are the things of warriors, to learn and and appreciate the past without fear of the future.
Beyond the plot points though, this book digs deep into themes of grief, pain and loss. I am amazed by McDonalds ability to bring readers back into deep feelings of loss and grief on behalf of the characters close to Oliva. Loving a person is complex and it must go deeper than loving their strengths. Throughout the book the exploration of Olivia’s life allows both the reader and the characters to see more than just her strengths, to see her weaknesses, her struggles and her pain. This is what connects us to Olivia and those who grieve her, to know her life, her love, her loss and her future and to see it so easily wiped away. May we each be loved not only for the good we bring into the world but also for the impact we have in it, may we be loved so deeply that the people around us desire to push past difficulties in order to love.
In the end, I am so great full for the life that came out of Olivia’s death. For her mother, her daughter and the family that formed around her in her last, fictional, days. But I do not see these beauties as something to discount or lighten grief but as an additional feeling. To feel joy and grief. Great fullness, peace, relief and pain. These feelings are the things of warriors, to learn and and appreciate the past without fear of the future.