Part 2 & 3

Today I couldn't put down the book and had to finish it before breakfast!! The next part reflects on what Luke found when he finally got settled into his new life in New Orleans and the process of trying to find someone without communications or resources, and all the death and destruction that was unimaginable for anyone to ever forget. As Luke continued to look for his father a unique twist occurred when he started looking over the pictures of his mission. He realized the funeral procession that he had seen when he arrived was his father's and that he finally had to come to terms that his father was dead. Which in it's own means is horrible, but the fact that everyone had been lying to him from Day 1, in my opinion put him over the edge. So he had to get out a place and away from people he thought were in a sense "family" only to find out that he was completely and totally betrayed.

Unfortunately in real life situations things like this happen everyday, people try to make things better and only cause pain and more suffering in most cases. They thought they were doing the right thing by allowing Luke to think his Father was still alive, but in the end they realized they should of told him the truth and allowed him to make the decision to find out about the last years of his life after Luke had cut him off. Being in their situation and I am sure that I have been in a sense, we all try to make things better than it really is because knowing the truth in some cases can be impossible to deal with, and as human beings we cope with what we think is the best.

I definitely recommend this book for many reasons, first because it was a really good read that was easy to follow and brought you into many people's lives in a way I never expected. I felt like I was on the streets in New Orleans after the storm, and I wanted to cry with the people and it broke my heart the way these people were treated and in a sense forgotten. It also brought out a lot of personal issues that I could relate with Luke and other characters. All of these things are what I look for in a book and get me to start thinking about my life too. If you are looking for a book that is almost impossible to put down and one with a unique twist, this is the book for you!

Until our next book find!!!

Happy Reading!!

Part 1

Adriane, sad but true I have to agree that I live the same life with the same feelings and like Luke in the story you try and try, try to make things better, try to see past his faults and realize he is who he is but never will he be more than what he is, your father by blood and you love him but he'll never be what you want him to be. And I guess that's ok, once you know that and realize you aren't going to change him...like Luke he tried to help him as much as he could but only realized that he loved his father, and accepted for who he was and decided when to help him and when to let him go. I think if we were in Luke's situation and the hurricane hit, like Luke we would really have to consider it but in the end we'd have to know if he was dead or alive.

And at these times, you start to go back as Luke did and remember the good with the bad because that's all we have is our memories, and how we have affected everyone in our lives. The good memories get you through the hard times and the bad memories make you a stronger and better person wanting to change history, not repeat it. I can't imagine what Luke was thinking and maybe almost hoping his Dad was gone, not suffering anymore blaming himself for his wife's death but I did get the impression that when he walked through the door of the bar and saw the woman he assumed was his Dad's girlfriend, this was going to be the downfall of his emotions wandering with all the death and destruction...could he still be alive and that he had to search for him.

I do like the quote you put in there, as you are right there is always another verse to everything. I know in my current situation, I feel like Luke did when he was going through the emotions of losing his mother for years and his father to alcohol, that my life keeps spinning out of control and what keeps me going is my son of course, but also the fact that as that quote stated there has to be another verse and that everything works out maybe not the way we picture it, but it works out in a way that will only make us stronger in the end.

Continuing on to Part 2!!!

Happy Reading!!!

Part I

I agree with you Kelli on how Luke described Katrina and his so intrigued by it. I was myself when it was all over the tv. I could not help but watch and be mesmerized. It is a shame that we do not hear about all the good that is going on there now and how much they are rebuilding.

Back to the story...

The relationship between Luke and Charles actually reminds me of my own relationship with my father. He was more or less there for me when I was a child and then we grew kind of distant when I was a teenager and after. He then came back into my life for a little while when the girls were really young, and then disappeared again when I moved to North Carolina. He is still distant. He is and will always be my father, but does not play the part.

My favorite quotes of sort from Part one is "Every song, no matter how short, has a second verse. You just have to find it." I think that is so true about all of our lives. There is a reason behind everything that happens and you just have to wait for the next verse!

I also truly believe in how Charles described true love to Luke...There is a spark when you're together that you can almost see and there is a pain you can hardly bear when you are not! I am sort of going through this right now with my husband being in OCS. We are a part all week and then I get to see him for a few hours on the weekend. Through the week I sort of have this pain or emptiness in the pit of my stomach knowing that he will not be home.

My other favorite thing I actually adapted into a family ritual around here and that is O.G.T. (One good thing). Everyone in my family has to tell about O.G.T. that has happened in their lives each week.

I cannot believe that I am relating this story to my own life, but it actually resembles it in some ways.

Time for Part II!

Happy Reading,
Adriane

Part I

My Thoughts

It is interesting to me having no expectations because this book was a referral from Adriane, so I hadn't read the book jacket at the store and thought this might be interesting, but was going on a hunch I would like it. And Adriane, thanks this book has been one that I can't put down but do because I have too! Books like this are one's I truly enjoy and take something from every time.

Hurricane Katrina was something that we can all relate to in different ways because like 9/11 we were glued to our TVs watching hoping for the best but realizing the worst had happened. I can relate to Luke in different ways, ways of at the beginning not thinking he knew anyone there but wanting to know more and his creative sense of seeing the people knowing there as a story to be heard. Until he got the call that his father was missing and then it was too real, but with the relationship he had with his father, shaky but loved him because he was his father, he took time to reflect on the past and wonder what the best thing to do was. And in the end he did go to Louisiana to have his eyes opened to something he could of never fathomed to be so true and terrible for those who survived and living with the destruction and death of those who didn't.

By seeing these people who had lost so much, he could relate by losing his mother in a horrific way of depression until her untimely death of what I feel the author is trying to say by suicide but never really presses the issue. Then his father so heart broken and in despair that he gets to the point of self destruction to make Luke wonder why should I go find him, he is probably dead anyway. It's sad to me to think that parents would lose touch with their children and that children wouldn't know how or where to contact their parents, but it happens everyday and in some way (not exactly the same way) it has happened in my life.

This book to me puts a name, face and emotions to what really happened after Hurricane Katrina came through and even though it's one man's prospective, it's one that I never considered from just watching the news and it makes me feel like we did just leave these people high and dry, and that they had no where to go, no where to turn and in a sense maybe death was their only option. That to me is so sad to have people in the U.S.A. think that no one cares and honestly after reading this book, and getting to this point I think they really thought no one cared or was going to come help them or their families. And it definitely opened the eyes and camera of Luke who could have never imagined what he found, and made him feel like he had to continue telling the story by talking to people, taking pictures and continue on his journey of finding the father he still thinks is dead. I am hoping it will be a happy reunion but at this point really have no opinion which way it's going to go.

On to Part II!!

Happy Reading!

My Thoughts and Introduction

I was referred to this book by a friend. I read it in two days last week and now I am rereading it a little slower. I thought that this book was addictive as I could relate to a lot of what was going through his mind. Charles reminded me a little of my own father. I will discuss it more in depth, but I do not want to spoil anything until I know how far along you are.

As an introduction...My name is Adriane and I have been reading for as long as I can remember. My oldest daughter, Haley, is a huge bookworm! My other daughter, Lauren, likes to read but would rather play outside. Both of my girls have to read for at least 15 minutes every night. I usually do not have trouble with them on this as they enjoy reading and it is more or less a habit now. Like Kelli, I have been reading to them since I was pregnant with them. Haley has even joined the American Girl Bookclub at our library.

Happy reading,
Adriane

"Recovering Charles"

Synopsis
Luke Millward is a man who does not know he is lost. His girlfriend loves him, his career is going well, and every night he falls asleep knowing that his life is good and meaningful. Only when the past reveals its twisted smile in a phone call and a disconnected voice asks him to come find his father in post-Katrina New Orleans is Luke compelled to find out what kind of man he truly is.

Biography
Jason F. Wright is the New York Times bestselling author of Christmas Jars and The Wednesday Letters. He lives in Woodstock, Virginia with his wife, Kodi, and their four children. A sign on their door reads, "Friends welcome. Family by appointment only."

This novel was given to me by Adriane who if I recall was referred by a friend. This is our first novel to our "official" Book Club 101 and our hopes are to instill insight from each other and anyone else who wants to join. I personally have been reading my entire life and am beginning to instill those values onto my son, Nico who is turning 2 next week. We try to read almost every night and he even takes books, sits on the couch and flips through them! So with our first book introduced....Welcome and hopefully we'll keep this going for many, many books to come!!!

Happy Reading!!!