My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I remember the day I found this book on my desk after I came back from school. The second I laid my eyes on it, I instantly fell in love with its cover and the intriguing title. Even 6 years later, I still remember my feeling that time when I read the book. I remember being frustrated at the mom. I remember seeing Claire at first as this typical teenager at age 15 where being selfish and self-centered was actually a cool thing to do. But then I also remember witnessing how Claire slowly grew mature month by month in taking care of household chores with an absentee mother who’s clearly hiding something. In the end, I remember feeling ache for both Claire and her mother. Claire for being hit by a shocking confession from her mom and was left with no choice but growing a mature demeanor. Her mom for struggling so hard to hide her illness from her only child because she did not want to make her worry and sad, but she just ended up hurting her in the end. I remember thinking how scary it was to lack of communication between parents and their kids. I remember at the age 16 that time, I panicked after reading the book and frantically searched for my mom and giving her a big hug tightly for minutes while she was all clueless as she just sat on the next room the entire time I read.
I remember crying twice that day. First, when Claire found out the truth behind her mom’s real circumstance. And again, when I read Claire’s last message for her mom. I cried hard that day. Well, I think it was the first time I cried over a book.
As mysterious as it came, it disappeared somewhere during my last year of university. It might be a short read but it left a deep mark in my heart ever since the day I read the first paragraph. When I have children on my own one day, I want us to read this book together. Probably it’ll be lots of more-touching mom-daughter themed books in the future but I want this book to be the first read we have together because of the memory I had about it. Hopefully. One day.
Love, read, and review,
Cynthia D.
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