Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Lovely, Dark and Deep

by Amy McNamara
Read: February 16-17, 2013
Published: October 16, 2012 by Simon & Schuster BFYR
Source: Library
Category: Contemporary, Grief, YA (New Adult)

A resonant debut novel about retreating from the world after losing everything—and the connections that force you to rejoin it.

Since the night of the crash, Wren Wells has been running away. Though she lived through the accident that killed her boyfriend Patrick, the girl she used to be didn’t survive. Instead of heading off to college as planned, Wren retreats to her father’s studio in the far-north woods of Maine. Somewhere she can be alone.
Then she meets Cal Owen. Dealing with his own troubles, Cal’s hiding out too. When the chemistry between them threatens to pull Wren from her hard-won isolation, Wren has to choose: risk opening her broken heart to the world again, or join the ghosts who haunt her. (From Goodreads)






I had things I didn’t want and then I lost them.
After surviving a car crash that killed her boyfriend, high school graduate Mamie Wells (nicknamed Wren) escapes from her life in New York City and all of its expectations to her sculptor father’s house in eastern Maine. There she retreats inside herself in an effort to handle the suffocating grief, depression and survivor’s guilt that is crushing her. Just being alive and making it through a day is an accomplishment for her.

Biking along the wooded roads one day, Wren meets Cal Owen after his car nearly runs her over. Cal has his own set of problems, and he and Wren are a terrible match in every respect. But in many ways they wake each other up, and slowly, together they make each other’s lives better. Their relationship is awkward, messy and both of them make mistakes.  But the fact that they are two broken people with insurmountable issues between them is also what makes them exactly right for each other. While it took me some time to really understand Wren, I adored Cal from the beginning. 
I came here because it’s pine-dark and the ocean is wild. The kind of quiet-noise you need when there’s too much going on in your head. Like the water and the woods are doing all the feeling, and I can hang out, quiet as a headstone, in a between place. A blank I can bear.
Lovely, Dark and Deep could not have been told without its beautiful prose or the coastal winter setting. The trees and the cliffs and the sea. The cold and the heavy snow. The rural isolation of Maine in the winter. The place of the story is a solid element in this book. A mood I could sense, describing the weight of Wren’s depression in a tangible way. I can't say enough things about how amazing and visceral is the setting of this story. Reading Lovely, Dark and Deep in a snow storm just added to my connection to this moody book. 
The thing about grief is that you have to let yourself feel it. 
Everyone grieves differently, and there will always be people who don’t understand yours. At first I felt that way about Wren. Although I was sad for her, I couldn't grasp why she wasn’t able to move on from the accident, especially if everyone else was trying to. But the more I watched her, and the more I learned, the greater sympathy I had for this girl lost in in a sea of her own pain. It wasn’t just the car crash that killed her boyfriend that was crushing Wren, many things were pulling her under. I think Amy McNamara did an excellent job describing Wren's debilitating emotions, and how they skewed her perspective of the world and the people around her. 

This story takes place in the year after Wren has graduated from high school. Tangled in Wren's depression and grief about the accident, are parental expectations and pressure about her future. Wren's understanding about who she is and what she wants for her life vastly differ from her mothers' beliefs, and that creates even more tension within Wren. Although I wish Wren had found more resolution with her mother, I am hopeful that it will come. I also love the new closeness Wren gains with her father, and the reluctant but solid connections she makes with others that she meets in the small Maine town. I think that finding new friends and moving on from old ones, is a part of growing up. Though the experience is stark and painful to watch happen in Wren's life, I also felt like it was realistic of that transition period between high school and life. 
He looks at me like he can see right into me. Like he might slip a hand in and unlock everything.

Lovely, Dark and Deep is an introverted book about one person trying to learn to breathe again – moment by moment – after a tragedy. It doesn’t wrap itself up neatly, and in the end many things are still uncertain. Wren's life is a mess and bridges are still burned, but I still felt hopeful for her in the end. I believe that Wren will be okay again, and that is not something that I could have said at the start of the book. She won’t ever be the same as before. But there is no way to go back anyway, so wishing for that is foolish. The beautiful conundrum of this story is that in the after, Wren and Cal both find something in each other that they wouldn’t want to erase either.  
Maybe this is what it’s supposed to feel like, love, steady in the face of things.

Love Triangle Factor: NONE
Cliffhanger Scale: Standalone
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If I were going to do a Six Degrees of Separation between Lovely, Dark and Deep and past contemporaries I've read, I'd pair it with - 

Small Damages by Beth Kephart because both books feature beautiful, lyrical language, and stories that feel organic to their settings, as well as heroines who have to create a new path for themselves after something happens in their lives to drastically alter the old one.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eager because both Wren and Carly are trying desperately to stay afloat after a tragic experience. They are two girls who will never be the same. But in going forward both girls create new lives, including relationships that would not have come before. They also find peace and solace in the outdoors: Wren has a compulsion to run, Carly feels the same about surfing. They feel as if their lives are manageable if they can just do that one thing. 

Just One Day by Gayle Forman because both books take place in the transition period after high school and feature heroines who must face the fact that their mothers' expectations for their lives differ from their own. Both Wren and Allyson also face the painful reality of growing apart from childhood friends, and the realization that one event can change everything that comes after. 



*I took these four photographs this winter with instagram. 

18 comments:

  1. Amazing review, Lauren! I love a novel where the setting plays such an important role and the fact that this book had so much emotion in it is highly appealing. I think I've been shying away from it since it's a grief novel, but I really do need to pick it up soon. Thanks for that needed motivation, dear!(:

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    1. I hope you love this one, Keertana! I know you like the other three novels I mentioned, so I hope that this one resonates with you as well. The story is tough, but as I said, also hopeful. And the romance nicely balances it out.

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  2. Great review!! I'm not sure if I will read this anytime, mostly because it sounds heavy. Maybe when I'll be a little older... XP
    I love your blog!! You write really nicely. New follower!

    I would love it if you follow back my new blog. Thank you ^^
    Sapir @ Diary of a Wimpy Teen Girl

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    1. Thank you. I understand that. I'm not sure I would have loved this as much if I'd been a lot younger. But it really resonated with me and I hope it does to you as well if you read it some day. Thanks for the follow. I will click over to your blog as well.

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  3. Oh my gracious, what a great review of this book. Oh wow. It makes me want to read it again. I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous about how you would feel about it, but I think it is easy to see that you connected to it. I LOVED the way the setting played into the story and you are absolutely correct in saying that the setting and prose had to be the way that they were for this story to unfold. I loved the language. I loved the way that the author used her own grief to write this story and her love for poetry. I loved Cal and I even loved the brokenness of Wren, even though that sounds horrible. I just want more people to read this book and love it because I think it is sitting out there as a hidden gem right now. Great, great review.

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    1. I keep flipping back through this book because it is just so lovely! I adore stories where the settings come to life and are so integral to their book. And I wish I'd mentioned something about this author's own grief in my review. I remember seeing that at the end of the book. As terrible as it is to loose someone, we are blessed that she chose to use her experiences to write this moving and marvelous story. I love what you said about this being a 'hidden gem.' SO TRUE. I am so thankful that you told me about this book, and I want others to read it as well!

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  4. I love this review. I had this book in my hand and I put it back and now I am kicking myself!!!

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    1. I think you will enjoy this one, Jen! I hope you find it again.

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  5. First off, I love that you told me it's a standalone! Also, this sounds so majestic in its wording and imagery, I just want to read it and be sucked in! I'll be switching from reading to looking at the cover back and forth just because of its setting. LOVE your review!

    Sunny @ Blue Sky Bookshelf

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    1. Thanks, Sunny! It's even more exciting if you can read the book while it's snowing. I don't know if that's possible for you, but the cover definitely helps. Though I didn't notice until after I finished the book that there is a girl on the cover, sitting by the tree. The way that she blends is perfect for this story. I hope you do enjoy this one.

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  6. I am so honored — and so very keen now on reading this book myself. Thank you.

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    1. I hope you enjoy this book! It is alway fun to find comparisons. And I want more people to read your story as well.

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  7. Love this review, Lauren. My coblogger also liked the book (with a few reservations), so I'm looking forward to reading this soon. The beautiful prose, wintry setting, and exploration of grief are all things that pull strongly at me, and I really liked two of the three books you compared this to as well. (Haven't read Small Damages yet.) Thanks for the thoughtful review!

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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    1. Thanks, Wendy. I just found and read Tonya's review and I can definitely see her point about the love story. I will admit to adoring it anyway, but it does begin abruptly and a more subtle approach could have been just as/or more effective. But I love Cal and Wren and what they offer to each other, despite the fact that they are both dealing with so much individually. Grief books are tough, but they can be so moving and rewarding. The setting and beautiful language in this one definitely sets it apart. And the fact that this author wrote the book while she was grieving the loss of a friend, makes it even more powerful. I hope you enjoy this if you decide to read it.

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  8. Thanks to all of you for your kind thoughts and remarks. I sat down and wrote Lovely, Dark and Deep because I needed to tell myself a story, other than the one I was living at the time. It's still a total miracle to me when I get to hear that it affected other people, too. Joy! And Lauren, your photos - so great!
    Amy
    @amynkmcn

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    1. Thank you for visiting my blog and reading my thoughts, and especially for writing an honest, moving look at grief in one girl. I wish your experiences hadn't been such that you needed to write this book, but I am thankful that this ended up being your outlet and that we have your words for ourselves as a result.

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  9. I just got a loaner of this book and I am SO excited to finally be reading it! The fact that you compare it to three of my all time favorite books THRILLS me, Lauren! I'm a sucker for pretty writing and I cannot wait to dig into this one. Plus this is probably one of my my all time favorite titles of a book, EVER. :)

    And your pictures are gorgeous, L:)I'm envious that you live in an area and are able to experience winter's like that!

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    1. Heather, I hope you love this one as much as I did. Amidst the beautiful language is an emotional honesty, born from the author's own experiences. And the setting is just unbelievably fantastic. Let me know when you pick this up!

      I do love winter, and I would miss it if I didn't get it. But after two months or so...I'm ready for spring. And yet the snow is still piled high.

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