Reviewed by Jeanne
Sam and Jake have been friends since high school: closer
than friends, more like brothers. Both
are drawn to the arts, Jake as an actor, Sam as a writer when his performing
career doesn’t work out. Even though they live on opposite coasts, they talk
once a week, visit when they can.
They’ve seen each other through marriage, divorce, failed relationships,
bad jobs, dark nights of the soul, good times and bad. Sam has been the one constant in Jake’s life.
And now Sam is dead.
Jake can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem possible.
He meets Emily, the young woman Sam had fallen in love
with—Sam the cynic!—and finds she shares his deep grief. They bond over their memories of Sam, each
filling in the gaps for the other. Then it’s back to their lives and the new
normal of a world without Sam.
Until one night, when Jake gets a frantic call from Emily. .
. .
Beautifully written, this novella explores loss, love, and
the possibility of what comes after.
It’s no surprise to find that Beagle wrote the book after the loss of a
close friend. It’s not one of those
three hanky books in which a writer uses all the tricks to make the audience
weep over a fictional character. It’s
moving, tender, thought-provoking, and at the end. . . well, I’ll leave the
ending for the reader to decide.
I do think it’s a little gem of a book and I’m glad I read
it.
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