Friday, September 10, 2010

Review for "On Mystic Lake" by Kristin Hannah


Annie Colwater's life looks picture perfect. She's married to an attractive, very successful lawyer, she has a beautiful daughter who's on her way to college, and she lives in southern California in a prestigious, gated community in a huge house she designed. But Annie's world comes tumbling down the same day her only child, her seventeen-year old daughter, goes off to England. Blake, Annie's husband of twenty years, tells her he's in love with someone else and that he's leaving her. Leaving her. How can he do that? She's his wife, the mother of his child. These roles defined her. It was all she ever wanted to be for as long as she could remember.

Annie, adrift in an ocean of misery, heads back to her roots and her hometown, a small but beautiful place in Washington State called Mystic. It is here that she looks for comfort from her dad and recalls heart-wrenching memories of her deceased mother. But it is also in this nature-lover's paradise that Annie is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, and his young daughter Izzy. Nick has recently become a widower and Izzy is "disappearing" since her mother died. Together, Annie, Nick and Izzy fight for survival and healing. Together they are strong. Yet it is just as Annie begins to feel she can let go of the past, just as she is beginning to understand who she is, just as she begins to believe in herself....she is forced to choose.

It is something so many of us do...mothers, wives, sisters. We become the nurturers, the caregivers, the organizers and lovers. But then, one day, twenty years later, when Johnnie is all grown up and traveling across Europe and Mary is off to university in Texas, we ask ourselves: What now? Who am I? What will I do now? The world is full of Annie Colwaters.

Kristin Hannah has once again put me through an emotional experience I won't forget. Through these so- very- real characters, she has reminded me to ask those questions of myself: "Who am I and what do I really want in life?" As a woman, I should not feel guilty because I want to do something for myself, be it a fulfillment of a lifelong dream or simply to travel where I want to go. Women can be who they want to be and still be a loving, nurturing parent and a passionate, caring wife. A woman's life need not revolve around those she loves; her life should involve the ones she loves. As Kristen Hannah states "I cannot lose sight of my own reflection". Thankfully, I have found the outlet for my innermost self...it is here in my words upon the page.

8 comments:

  1. Great review Amanda!
    I feel like you just tapped into my brain with that last paragraph. I've been asking myself that very same question recently...."Who am I and what do I really want in life?" I can't help but feel a bit selfish for wanting to go away. But,why am I going? What am I looking for? Love? Inner peace? I guess I'll know when I find it.
    Heather

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  2. Hey Heather,
    What a great comment! Sometimes we never know what we are looking for until we find it...and sometimes, it was always there! Have faith.

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  3. What an insightful and heartfelt review, and beautifully written to boot!

    I have not read this author before, but you make me want to give her a try :)

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  4. Wow...thank you for the wonderfully kind comments about my review! I had never read any of Kristin's work and now she is up there as one of my favourite authors. Giver her a try!

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  5. Hi there. Stopping by on the hop. I'm going to have to read this one...sounds great.

    Jennifer

    http://booknoise411.blogspot.com/

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  6. A really super review on this book and I will definitely put in on my wish list.

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  7. Hi Mandy, thanks for stopping by my blog! I love Kristin Hannah's books but this is one I still haven't read. Sounds good!

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  8. This is a fantastic book review, and I really need to read this one. I will definitely have to put it on my to read list. Thanks for introducing me to the book and the author.

    Thank you for participating in the The Book Lovers‘ Blog Hop
    @ Story Time Under the Stars. I hope you will join up again this week, the linky goes live tonight around 10 p.m. EST.

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