One month Erin was a normal teenage girl in Australia and the next month she was an orphan, having lost both parents (her mother instantly and her father a month later due to medical complications) to a car accident. She and her older sister are left alone to care for one another as well as for their young brother. What follows over the next few years is Erin's struggle to keep her head above water while finishing school, working, helping to raise her brother and, not least of all, trying to come to terms with this devastating loss. It's a long row to hoe and without trustworthy advice coming from any quarter Erin is hard-pressed to make it happen. Will she ever have a normal life again? Why did this happen? Is it her fault?
MY REACTION:
This is a convincingly-written memoir, and by that I mean that it is easy to see the person Erin Vincent was during this time in her life. As a person who lost both of my parents during my teen years I found myself thinking "YES! Exactly!" several times while reading this book. I also found myself shaking my head at some of Erin's misinformed decisions and phases, but I was rooting for her throughout. There are books that make you relive painful and hopeless times in your life without giving you anything new to take away from the experience, and then there are books that allow you to relive those times in a way that allows you to forgive and heal. This book is the latter. Thank you, Ms. Vincent.
This book may be good for readers who have had a large and unwieldy grief to contend with in their own lives. It may also be good for readers who are grief-curious, readers who like memoirs, or readers who are into "sad stories" or teen problem novels.
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