Book Bloomer

To Live(paid link) is an extremely fast read and doesn’t contain as much depth as I was hoping after reading other reviews. I felt like I was reading and watching the events take place from above, but never actually immersed in the text.

The novel is about death, life, loss, and family. Three themes that if you take them on, you need the plot and writing skills to back them up. Unfortunately, this novel doesn’t have either to execute this properly. It’s about a man named Elmore Thaddeus Nix who recently lost his wife and has just found out he has cancer. He gratefully welcomes death until an unexpected young girl name Sam enters his life.

Through Sam we find out more about Elmore and the secrets that he’s been keeping from us. We also witness Sam unlock something deep inside Elmore that awakens his will to live and beat cancer. I definitely liked the overall message of this story, but what lacked most for me was the surface level writing that never allows us as readers to get emotionally involved into the novel. Certain events that occurred seemed unbelievable and cheesy, causing me to feel fairly detached from the rest of the storyline.

I personally wouldn’t recommend this novel if you’re looking to really feel with your characters.