Surface
By: Stacy Robinson
Rating: 5 of 5
The first forty or so pages of this book were not very pleasing to me. The characters seemed shallow, self-serving, and bent only on their own satisfaction – whatever the cost. My thought was that the book was going to be a real chore to read through. As it turns out, that very selfishness was needed to set up the rest of the story. Once a very life-changing event takes place, each individual in the book comes to life. Some of the characters are ones that you would want to know, some you would pass on; however, they are very representative of individuals you have met in your life.
The story revolves around Claire Montgomery and her relationships with her son, Nick, and her husband, Michael. Claire has done something wrong and because of it, life will never be the same. She watches as her son struggles to regain a semblance of his prior life and her marriage, such as it is, falls apart.
It is a story of Claire’s self-discovery – who she was, what she has become, and who she wants to be. Along the way, we learn a lot about the seriousness of traumatic brain injury as well as the heartbreak of a parent learning to cope with a child who has been injured. We see this both from the perspective of Claire and from Michael.
Along the way, Claire learns where her true friends are and who will provide her her support system in the future. She wises up, grows up, and takes a stand – primarily to protect her son from further hardships. It is a story that touched my heart as a parent who had a very sick child and as a woman who was in a similar marriage (though, thankfully, not at the same time.)
After getting over the first bit of the book (and then later realizing how important that part was), I completely enjoyed reading the book. I recommend to any other adult but I think the subject matter might be too mature for younger individuals. I really got a laugh out of the author first dedicating the book to her parents and then advising them to skip the sex scenes (of which there were not many.) I would have done the same for my mother.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
