Banged-Up Heart: Dancing with Love and Loss by Shirley MelisMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The encompassing idea of this book is you DON'T only get one. That's something I now know to be true, being happily married after a divorce. Love, loss, and moving on are all parts life and it's as ugly as it is beautiful. This novel lays out love and loss, not shying away from the nitty gritty. I mean that first date with Paul, um, awkward... in the most hilarious way. The marriage to Joe described so fully, all the betrayals included was both painful and honest. It made the rest of the story all that much more vivid and intense. The courtship between Shirley and John was very sweet and it's easy to see how deeply they loved one another. It made his death all the more devastating, but only slightly more than the horror of navigating the healthcare system.
The big negative for me was simply the character ages. I'm much younger and I can't relate to someone who can recall their husband's seventy-ninth birthday or was in their prime in the 60s. It's the same with very young characters for me. It's my issue, I know, but it taints a story for me.
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