A review by lizhuhwhat
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

"I have lost too much and am too much lost."

"...what an ordeal it would be, to be known."

"If I look up, and he looks down, I think we might fit together, the lines of us."

"I close my eyes, drinking it all in, knowing it is a place in time that I will never forget. The world is dangerous and we will not survive it. But there is this. Impermanent as it may be."

"There is such peril in loving things at all, and he feels sort of proud, in fact, that he just keeps on doing it."

This book is such a beautiful reminder to keep going. That feeling despair for what is lost and what will be lost is valid and real, but so too is the fact that the sun will rise tomorrow and the world will keep spinning. And not in a trite way - this book is oozing with hope along with its intense grief. Looking at the state of the world right now, it feels so incredibly hopeless and daunting - the idea of building a future of any kind can feel futile. And to a certain extent, this book agrees with that take. But while life may never be the same as it has been, it will continue in new forms. We may not know what the future holds, but we should love like hell and fight like hell to build for it anyway. Because, in the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm, "Life, uh, finds a way."
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