A review by mkdeco
Held by Anne Michaels

emotional reflective
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
i feel like this book had a really gorgeous style of writing . I loved the font as well but thats. not all that important.  I liked how well youre able to see the pieces of eachother that the characters display. I think it was a really well layed out philiosophy about memory. How memory is maleable to a moment in which it's remembered. I think the examples of seeing grief through the. eyes  of these characters along side the philosophy that your 'ghosts" can speak to you through the absence. or the presence of something. We start seeing these ghosts in a very literal way through the lens (ha) of a soldier come home from war. While the ghosts he photographs are technichally other peoples, they reflect himself in a way. His memories (the boy and the mother) him AS a memory (the woman and the baby). It's very well written. I think the first chapter was beutifully constructed. He tries to think of these things that make him happy/grounded but of course the experience of being bombarded in war bleed through into these memories. The chapters about peter maya and alan have so much packed in them and it's all a beautifully laid out story about grief. I loved it! 

I'm not giving it a star rating because I don't feel like i have the best gauge for this type of writing.