Book Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Sophie has survived trauma in her teenage years, which range from car accidents that almost leave her crippled, to surviving an attach where her best friend is shot and killed. Far From You is the aftermath of Sophie’s ordeals, as she struggles to stay clean of her painkiller addiction and find the reason her best friend had to die. The police, one detective in particular, chalk it up to Sophie’s addiction and that it was a drug deal gone wrong. Sophie’s internal mantra of the months, hours, and minutes of her being clean say otherwise. Through the years and reflections on times past, we see Sophie and Mina’s friendship grow (and their love) and the events that surround Mina’s death. There is mystery and intrigue about the secrets both the girls kept, and how they knew everything about each other with the simplest touch or glance, yet would hide things–even from themselves. Sophie feels lost without her friend, but after struggling through her grief in an unnecessary stint in rehab, she vows to discover a secret about Mina she never knew, and find the person(s) responsible for her death.

This novel not only is a murder mystery, but ultimately a reflection on grief, how one struggles with addiction, friendship, and love. I figured this was just going to be another angst-filled story about some obvious-killer-boyfriend who “accidentally” murdered Sophie’s best friend (and was “Gonna get her too!”). One of those that there seems to be dozens of out there. Then the story started to blossom and show deeper sub-plots and further mysteries that were hidden from the reader. It became more a story of a hidden love between the two girls, and how they struggled to not only hide it from their friends, families, and lovers, but from themselves. There was real, raw pain behind many of the girls’ actions, especially when Sophie started to fall deeper into her drug addiction. I liked how Sharpe didn’t immediately make it an unrealistic dive into the drug world, but a slow and irreversible descent. Sophie was in real pain from her car accident, and was struggling with the physical therapy and the realization she would never be the same again. That’s one of the things I could never stand from other books that talk about drug addiction…it seems so staged and unrealistic. But here, Sophie just digs herself deeper into it, even astonishing herself when she steals her father’s prescription pad, and prolongs her unnecessary pill-popping.

The greatest thing from this book was the realism; the emotions of the family members, the betrayal of friends for love, unrequited love, odd stages of grief (and how everyone handles it differently), and ultimately, just how people grow from trauma and great relationships. Sophie wasn’t the deepest or most well-rounded of characters, but you understood her emotions and actions, and how they aided her recovery from such death and self-destruction. Her relationship with Trev was full of tension and sadness, and her parents seemed, well, like parents. No one’s perfect, and all the characters were able to make mistakes here and there with little detriment to the story. I really enjoyed the realism, and gut-wrenching, tear-jerking moments. Sigh. But the ending. The wrap up with the criminals was a little odd, and felt misplaced. I felt the main story with Mina and Sophie’s relationship and turmoil was the real focus, and the murder mystery an afterthought. Besides that…pretty darn swell.

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Book Review: A Wounded Name by Dot Hutchison

This is a retelling of Shakespeare’s tale of Hamlet, set from Ophelia’s point of view in modern day-ish United States. At the Elsinore Boarding School, Ophelia Castellan is too much like her mother. She is a wild and free spirit, under constant watch of her persnickety father and domineering brother. She is required to stay on medication due to her visions of ghosts, the bean sidhe, and the Great Hunt, as well as her dead mother. When she was young, Ophelia was almost killed when her mother decided to drown herself in the local lake. She made Ophelia promise to come back to her, and join her in a mythical city that resides under the water. After the sudden death of the Headmaster of Elsinore, Hamlet, Ophelia finds herself at the center of a great drama involving Hamlet’s son, Dane and his extended family. His mother decides to remarry, his uncle no less, only weeks after Hamlet’s death. In his grief and madness, Dane finds sanity in Ophelia and she attempts to keep him grounded through a tumultuous time. The possibility of murder, and a looming insanity, all drive Ophelia to promise things to more people; promises she doesn’t know she can keep.

I hadn’t read very much of this book before I read it, and was completely unaware that this was a type of interpretation on Shakespeare. Yet throughout the entire time reading it, I was constantly reminded of Shakespeare and the manner of speech and dialogue used in many of his writings. The lyrical and witty way the characters interacted, as well as Ophelia’s tremendous depth were beautiful and poetic. I loved the puns and guilded comments, as well as the intense dialogue that existed between Dane and Ophelia…well, Dane and anyone really. It was a very, very intense book, and I almost stopped reading it after beginning. But I plowed on, and began to really appreciate the text and detailed writing. Hutchison really captured the way of Shakespeare, and while I am unfamiliar with the original tale of Hamlet (I know, I know. I need to read up on my classics and awesome literature/writing in general), it was reminiscent of Shakespeare’s eloquent writing and prose. A beautiful read.

*This book was sent to me by the Lerner Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

 

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