Another Uncorrect Proof copy from the Amazon.com Vine program to read and review.

I hemmed and hawed over this offering for quite a while before I finally selected it. It sounded intriguing, but at the same time I wasn't sure it was going to be something I would enjoy. In the end, I decided to take a chance after reading a review of this title in the Washington Post. We'll see if that was a wise decision.

Keith Corcoran is finally realizing his life-long dream of being an astronaut, living and working aboard the International Space Station, using a new robotic arm of his own design. Yet even at this moment of personal triumph, his world comes crashing down around him when his teenage daughter dies in an auto crash. Before he can return to Earth, his wife announces that she’s leaving him. And so it is that Keith finds himself returning home to an empty house, filled only with memories and unanswerable questions. As Keith struggles to come to terms with the wreckage of his life, he finds himself becoming friends with an ebullient Ukrainian neighbor, a former astronomer struggling to find his footing in a strange country. Together, they forge an unlikely friendship that might serve as a lifeboat for them both.

This is a powerful story of loss and grief, delving deeply into the emotional struggles of the narrator to come to terms with his grief and guilt. Having lost my own daughter two years ago, much of the struggle described here absolutely rings true, especially the sense that such a loss is incomprehensible, unbelievable. While we each grieve in our own ways, and our individual responses might vary, Keith’s responses here are true to his character and utterly believable, even when they sometimes appear to be irrational or self-destructive.

For certain, this story is all about heartbreak and loss, and as such is far from cheerful. Yet, it somehow manages not to become overly depressing. It is an authentic description of grief and what it is like to try to pick up the pieces and move on. Most of the questions remain unanswered at the end (and, indeed, they may well be impossible to answer), but at the same time, the story ends on a hopeful note.

This book will be available at the October BC-in-DC meeting.

Unclaimed.

I picked this up at the BCinDC holiday party today. I hope to continue its journey soon.

Left on the OBCZ shelf.

Reading this book was a "landscape branching endlessly into a vinculum of zeros." page 364. I'm just saying...if you are into math or the listless, mindless tedium of British literature, you will love this book. If not, try something else.