*CLOSED* The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand – Review and Giveaway

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand is not what I would I call a light read.  However, don’t think that’s a bad thing.  Sometimes I like something that is a little sad and makes me feel some deep emotions.

The Castaways is about a group of friends who live in Nantucket.  Some of them have known each other forever, while others have “married” into the group.  They’ve taken a number of group trips over the years, and dubbed themselves “The Castaways”.  However, the group is torn apart when one of the couples drown while on an anniversary sailing trip.  Many questions are left unanswered, while still more questions are raised as the rest of the group tries to deal with their grief.

It took me a bit to get into this book.  However, after about 50 pages, I was gripped.  Again, I did have the usual issues of remembering who was who (there are 4 couples and all of their kids’ names to remember) but it didn’t bog me down and seemed to go away after a bit.

The Castaways has some powerful scenes.  I think my heart broke a little while reading about Phoebe’s experiences with her brother dying on 9/11.  This scene will make you cry and be thankful for any of your worst siblings.  On the other hand, this portion was a bit depressing as I live so close to NYC that it’s still hard for me to watch or read about those events.  Hilderbrand didn’t exploit the happenings to prove a point – she merely used a day and event that is a part of our lives now as something that had a huge impact one of her characters’ lives.

This book served to help make me thankful for the strong marriage I do have.  Also, I realized that I am very lucky with my fertility and ease in having children.

This is not a light fluffy beach read.  Please know that you may wind up sobbing by the pool if you do decide to read this there.  However, it’s a not bad cry.  Also, there is not a pretty bow tied up at the end to make everything all better.  That’s fine for this book – it works, and insinuates that everybody still has a lot of healing to do, that the pain of loss will never go away.

Would you like to experience this book for yourself?  I have one copy of The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand for one of you to win!

Leave a comment for each entry – be sure that your email address is viewable in some way – if I can’t reach you, you can’t win!

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Visit http://www.elinhilderbrand.net/ and tell me something about Elin Hilderbrand or another of her books that you would like to read

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#Win a copy of The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand from @tetheredmommy and @hachettebooks http://www.tetheredmommy.com/?p=1137 (7/26)

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Giveaway ends Monday, 7/26/10 at 11:59pm EDT.  Winner will be picked using a random number generator.  Winner will have 72 hours to reply to my email with mailing info.  If no response in that time, a new winner will be picked.  US & Canada only, 18 and over, no PO boxes.

I was given this book for the review.  This did not influence my review in any way.  All opinions are 100% my own.