The complexities of life, heartbreak, grief, love, hope & more
Plot:
A Little Hope follows the lives of a handful of neighbors in a small Connecticut town over the course of a year. It explores the complexities of life, heartbreak, grief, love, hope and more.
Review:
I’ll be honest, it took me a bit to sit down and write this review because I had to let myself recover from this book. It’s simple, complex, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at once and I’ve never read anything like it.
‘A Little Hope’ follows the stories of a handful of neighbors living in the small town of Wharton, Connecticut. Usually when there is a multitude of characters to this extent storylines get hard to follow and feel a bit shallow, but Joella intertwined the storylines so beautifully that not only did you follow them, you felt them. So many of these characters went through things I could never even imagine, yet I could feel every emotion down to my bones.
Each character is connected in small insignificant ways, but they leave large imprints on each other’s lives. The book shows how much of an impact seemingly insignificant gestures can be to someone in need of some kindness or a supporting hand. It shows the complexity of human beings and how grief, accidents, mistakes, regrets, and sickness can impact relationships.
There was nothing in your face dramatic about this book, no big climax, but that was the beauty of it. It pulled you into the lives of these people and made you feel the everyday emotions of these characters, of real people.
It’s hard to put in words the impact this book had, but to end this review I’ll share just a few notes I jotted down while reading:
I want an entire book of Luke
Maybe there is that one person that will always be “it” for you. Who you will compare everyone to. Who no one will ever be able to measure up to. And maybe you still won’t wind up with them
Okay, this book has made me cry by page 65. This is going to be a rough one.
We always say, “One day we’ll do this,” but what if one day never comes? Stop putting your life off
It’s amazing how much people assume about each other without really knowing anything - such as seeing someone as cold when they go home and cry alone. You never know what goes on behind closed doors.
It’s nice to see the inner vulnerability of men’s thoughts vs their outer bravado
This book highlights the “grass is always greener” mentality. Each character wonders what another’s life is like and why it seems better without realizing what they have right in front of them.
If you want to feel, please read this book.
Favorite Quotes:
"A rule Freddie likes: you never know. You never know what can break you. What you can fix, what you can stand up to. You never know what time will do, what will defeat or surprise you. You never know.
"Well, we do the things they weren't able to... We vote because they can no longer vote. We look at the ocean because they can't. We think about them when we put up a Christmas tree, and later when we sit there and gaze at the lights. We do all the things they can't. That is how we love them when they're gone."
"She thinks of the courage, win or lose, it takes to live."
Rating:
5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️