Scan barcode
A review by karieh13
The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead by Paul Elwork
3.0
This is the first book I’ve read on my Kindle – so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to write the same kind of review that I normally do. I tend to mark the pages that I know I will refer to – and at the end – flip back to those to refresh my memory. The highlight feature worked great, though, so here goes.
Because of the aforementioned Kindle aspect of this book, I didn’t know what to expect from “The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead”. I had no dust jacket to read, no quotes from other reviews on the back to create some sort of expectation in my mind. I know that I expected more of a supernatural aspect to it – but I was pleasantly surprised. This book touches on love and loss – and the way grief affects not only those left behind, but those who come after someone has died. It is about the enduring nature of our world and the brief time that each human has to spend upon it.
“In the bathroom at Ravenswood, Emily looked into the mirror and tried to stand on the cool sand with her father, tried to see the ocean as it had been, and knew her memories of the dream she believed to be a memory were fading pictures and sensations of something that had passed on.”
The main character is Emily, and through her eyes…or more accurately, through the access she gives the reader to her family and history, many stories unfold. As she learns about the secrets and legends surrounding her family and their home, Ravenswood, she grows up and realizes what an effect each person’s life has on another. Stories, both true and those imagined, have great impact on not only those who hear them, but those who tell them.
“The twins sat there, not knowing what to say. Just as he had built the story around them in his way and brought them into it, he gently took them out of the story and folded it up with one gesture.”
Emily and her twin brother Michael, tell their own stories one summer…stories that touch on the past and ultimately change the future. “The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead” draws a haunting picture of the brief flash of life given to each human – but the timeless impact we each can have.
Because of the aforementioned Kindle aspect of this book, I didn’t know what to expect from “The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead”. I had no dust jacket to read, no quotes from other reviews on the back to create some sort of expectation in my mind. I know that I expected more of a supernatural aspect to it – but I was pleasantly surprised. This book touches on love and loss – and the way grief affects not only those left behind, but those who come after someone has died. It is about the enduring nature of our world and the brief time that each human has to spend upon it.
“In the bathroom at Ravenswood, Emily looked into the mirror and tried to stand on the cool sand with her father, tried to see the ocean as it had been, and knew her memories of the dream she believed to be a memory were fading pictures and sensations of something that had passed on.”
The main character is Emily, and through her eyes…or more accurately, through the access she gives the reader to her family and history, many stories unfold. As she learns about the secrets and legends surrounding her family and their home, Ravenswood, she grows up and realizes what an effect each person’s life has on another. Stories, both true and those imagined, have great impact on not only those who hear them, but those who tell them.
“The twins sat there, not knowing what to say. Just as he had built the story around them in his way and brought them into it, he gently took them out of the story and folded it up with one gesture.”
Emily and her twin brother Michael, tell their own stories one summer…stories that touch on the past and ultimately change the future. “The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead” draws a haunting picture of the brief flash of life given to each human – but the timeless impact we each can have.