Nothing left to live for…that’s how eighteen-year-old Daisy Sugarbush feels after an explosion inflicts deep burns over seventy percent of her body, condemning her to six excruciating months in the hospital, where her pleas to stop treatment are ignored. Blind and horribly disfigured, she wishes only to end her wretched life as soon as possible. Starvation should push her ruined body over the … the edge–the doctors told her as much–which becomes her game plan.Then a new therapist, Arthur, enters her life with other ideas, but can he succeed where so many others have failed?
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I have never read a book like this one. The author presents so much between the covers, it is hard to simply convey what this is about. In the end, this book is about the indomitable spirit of humanity.
Daisy stumbled through her life and dealt with what seemed like huge things (some were) and others, in fact, didn’t mean so much. Then came the explosion that didn’t kill her but destroyed her body. She suffered such a horrible thing that it was no surprise she just wanted to die. Whether she deserved the right to make that call is another key aspect of this book. She was able to find a bit of light in what was forever darkness for her was incredible.
This book made me cry more than once. The author created some amazing characters in this book. The story of Arthur, the life of Daisy’s Mom, just to name a few. The lives of so many others she bumped into were so perfectly conveyed. I raise my chapeau to the author for the hard to find talent at character creation.
The other big part of the book is the patient’s right to choose. Does a person who was burned badly have a chance to say ‘let me die’? Should the severely injured be able to decide they don’t care to continue or go through painful treatment? This is a huge ethical question and both sides of it are laid out clearly in this book.
A powerful book about love, life, faith and fate. I was hoping Daisy would be able to see but no. The fact she couldn’t see again until she had finally moved on was beautiful. Life is going to go that way for all one day. A book that carries you down a very hard road but if you keep going you will see the sun again.
This book needs to be made into a movie and I believe it will be.
My Rating: 5 stars
What an amazing introduction to a new author (to me)! This book is not for the feint of heart as the author takes us on an amazing journey that is beyond heartbreaking at times and at other times really shows the resilience of the human spirit. The story brings so many different issues to the forefront so they cannot be simply washed over, you have no choice but to think about them. This is a story that demands your full attention and it’s a story that lives on far after finishing the book. It’s not a story that can be easily forgotten nor are the issues and questions that it raises not only in the book but within the reader as well.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.