I follow a literary agent's blog and I am not above occasionally stalking her book-of-the-week selections. This is the first one I've stalked off her page that I've actually read, but we'll save the sob story about the 100+ books on my to-read list for another day.
Reading this book involved a transfer from another library, a misconception, and a lack of observance. We'll get to all but the first later on.
Synopsis:
How long do you hold on to hope?
Danica Greene has always hated flying, so it was almost laughable that the boy of her dreams was a pilot. She married him anyway and together, she and Etsell settled into a life where love really did seem to conquer all. Danica is firmly rooted on the ground in Blackhawk, the small town in northern Iowa where they grew up, and the wide slashes of sky that stretch endlessly across the prairie seem more than enough for Etsell. But when the opportunity to spend three weeks in Alaska helping a pilot friend presents itself, Etsell accepts and their idyllic world is turned upside down. It’s his dream, he reveals, and Danica knows that she can’t stand in the way. Ell is on his last flight before heading home when his plane mysteriously vanishes shortly after takeoff, leaving Danica in a free fall. Etsell is gone, but what exactly does gone mean? Is she a widow? An abandoned wife? Or will Etsell find his way home to her? Danica is forced to search for the truth in her marriage and treks to Alaska to grapple with the unanswerable questions about her husband’s mysterious disappearance. But when she learns that Ell wasn’t flying alone and that a woman is missing, too, the bits and pieces of the careful life that she had constructed for them in Iowa take to the wind. A story of love and loss, and ultimately starting over, Far From Here explores the dynamics of intimacy and the potentially devastating consequences of the little white lies we tell the ones we love.
Plot: In the beginning, I labored under the delusion that this book (genre-wise) was Christian fiction. It wasn't until I was about two-thirds through that I noticed that the 'H' on the back did not in fact stand for Harvest House Publishers (as I had thought at careless glance) but instead for Howard Books (which is a division of Simon & Schuster, in case anyone wanted to know). It was then that I realized why no one was getting saved.
Erm, my mistake?
All in all, I was rather impressed with the book. The writing was solid and interesting and the emotions weren't cliche bits of fluff about broken hearts and ect. and ect. They were sort of visceral and real. I could read them and understand how one could draw the conclusion or parallel that was on the page.
But since this wasn't a Christian book, the whole thing was permeated with a sense of hopelessness. I mean, without God, there really isn't a way to find really solid ground. Without the hope of heaven, how can you really put away your grief? Without God's promises, how can you really find a reason to go on living?
The way Danica Greene dealt with her grief hurt me because it was so empty. You can't find real release in long cries, or refinishing tables, or planting flowers or kissing men. She didn't find God, and it was empty. I couldn't find the end very hopeful or inspiring because, though she made some right choices, Danica hadn't really grown or changed, she had simply moved on.
And, since this wasn't a Christian book there were quite a few bouts of drinking, quite a few curse words, several awkward and *ahem* mature scenes, and lots of...nothing.
Characters:
Danica Greene: I was hard-pressed to like this heroine. For the most part she came of as whiny, ungrateful, high-maintenance, self-centered, and mean. She had her good moments, but the book was all about her. I don't know what it's like to have my husband disappear without a trace (haha) but does it really give you the right to be rude and caustic to everyone?
On the other hand, her emotions did come off as authentic and though they annoyed me because I got tired of her bitterness, that could very well be the way some people act and feel in the face of loss. She was selfish and annoying, but at least she wasn't perfect.
She gets a tie for her opposing parts.
Etsell Greene: My first question about this guy (or maybe my second...) was actually asked by one of the characters in the book: What kind of name is Etsell? Turns out it's his mother's maiden name - which sort of explained the oddity.
Okaay. So Etsell was pretty much perfect. Apollo in jeans, I believe Danica called him. I considered giving up on the book when the first few pages seemed devoted to telling the reader how gorgeous this man was. I prefer those details in small, unexpected doses to being force-fed chunk after chunk.
He wasn't around for most of the book, but the impression I got was that he was a rather unbalanced little boy who turned into a pretty weak husband. (I suppose he had some right to be that way. His mother died when he was young and his father was a drunk. Yay!) His marriage to Danica was based solely on looks and the fact that she, as he put it, "was his ground".This is not an ideal state for a relationship of any kind.
Then there are Kat and Natalie, Danica's polar-opposite sisters; Char, Danica's odd and loose mother; Hazel, Ell's surrogate mother; Samantha Linden, a riddle; and Benjamin, Danica's neighbor-who-is-a-pastor.
Kat needed help, Natalie needed help, Char needed help, Hazel needed...something, Samantha was just weird and I didn't really like Benjamin.
All right!
Likes: By this time I'm sure you're wondering why I even finished this book, but I'll tell you why: I didn't really like the characters, didn't think too much of the content and was turned off by the details of Dani and Ell's relationship and the lack of God's presence in the book, but the writing was excellent. The plot had just enough twists to keep you reading and just enough surprises to keep you guessing. There was a brutal honesty about it that intrigued me and I just wanted to see how it ended.
It was an interesting approach to have the third-person narrative and then switch to Danica's first person recollections and emotions. It did get clunky at times and a bit confusing, but all in all, I believe it was pulled off.
Dislikes: The fact that there was no God. Period. Mention was made of Him, yes, but Mrs. Baart could have made this story so much more powerful than an empty struggle to reach the light if she had just stopped to acknowledge that Christ is the only one who can heal a broken heart. Not to mention that Ell and Dani's marriage would have been eons better with a Scriptural foundation... But I repeat myself.
Conclusion: I would not recommend this book if you are depressed or struggle with depression. I figured the end would be different than it was, but even so the book just got steadily darker. Danica's grief overwhelms her and she drags you down too. Not only that, but this book doesn't draw the reader in. The characters exist in their own little world where you can look through the window, but stay out in the cold. It's a queer feeling not to be transported into another world when I open a book, but after finishing Far From Here, I'm rather glad I wasn't.
Till next time,
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