This book explores grief and what it is like to grieve in such a nuanced way.
The book opens with Cassandra who is twelve and her brother Wayne who is seven heading to the beach to play. They do this regularly, just a normal day- until Wayne goes for a swim and his body is never found. Cassandra remembers trying to save him and a guy in a windbreaker assisting but the story just did not add up. With no body, and Cassandra not able to clearly let her parents what happened, her mother clings to the belief that Wayne is still alive. Her mother then starts an organization called Vigil with the hopes of keeping Wayne alive.
As Cassandra grows up, she lives with the ghost of her brother, she sees him everywhere and it shatters her world. She then meets a man who claims to be Wayne- but is this real?
<b> He taught me that grief doesn’t choose its timing well; you never know when it’ll grip your neck. </b>
I thoroughly enjoyed how the author portrayed grief and showcase how everyone grieves differently and that grief is never linear. I think sometimes we expect persons to “Get over it” after a certain time but this book showcases the opposite. I did think that the book lagged a little in getting to the point but overall, I enjoyed it.
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