I was excited to read this story after reading so many glowing reviews, but now realize a lot of those were from promotions for the book. I wanted to really love this book but found myself feeling depressed most of the time. Wyatt's outlook was always bleak and he seemed like a weak character -okay letting people tell him how to live and what to do. Yes, he was struck by more than his fair share of tragedy but none of the tragedies seemed to build character or even courage. But on the positive, there are some brilliantly funny lines in the book and I believe the back and forth banter between, Wyatt, Tilda, Cornelia and Constance, would make for a great TV movie.
For a synopsis - Wyatt loses his parents to suicide, separately but simultaneously. He's a 17-year-old boy and is taken in by his Aunt Constance and Uncle Donald. His cousin, Tilda, who is adopted, thankfully, is beautiful and has some interesting and morbid ideas for a career path. The book takes place in Newfoundland during the early years of WWII. It was interesting to gain perspective on what the war meant to Canadians - not something you hear about often. The story is a letter from Wyatt to his daughter, Maralis. Once you get through the first two-thirds of the book, you zoom with much anticipation to the end when Wyatt's story really takes off, the true reasons he is writing to his daughter. While beautifully written, with words I was excited to look up (anodyne, philology), I was left with little to really ponder over once finished.
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