Review: Recovering Charles
Recovering Charles – Jason F. Wright
From the back cover -
Luke Millward is a man who does not know he is lost. His girlfriend loves him, his career is going well, and every night he falls asleep knowing that his life is good and meaningful.
Only when the past reveals its twisted smile in a phone call and a disconnected voice asks him to come find his father in post-Katrina New Orleans is Luke compelled to find out what kind of man he truly is.
Recovering Charles is for every family who’s had its share of tough times, for anyone who regrets the things never said, for everything who needs to know their life has a second verse.
I found Recovering Charles to be somewhat of an interesting book. To simplify, let me just tell you what I liked and what I did not like. First, the good news.
What I liked about Recovering Charles… the story hooked me right away. After reading the first chapter, I couldn’t put the book down and wanted to find out what would happen, I needed to know if Charles was dead or alive, and I wanted to follow Luke as he traveled to New Orleans and see through his eyes what he saw there. Also, this book is extremely short and easy to read – it would be a fantastic book for someone to read who either reads extremely slowly or doesn’t read much at all, because it definitely goes quickly and is a touching, emotional story. Recovering Charles is exactly the type of book that rises to the top of the Bestseller lists for all these reasons, and I’m thinking that it probably will, especially with the holidays coming up and people feeling sentimental and thinking about their families.
What I didn’t like… well, I hate to say it, but it was TOO short. I couldn’t get invested in any of the characters, I didn’t feel like I really got to know them, and then the book was over. To be honest, the conclusion of the book did not hit me very hard because I simply was not emotionally involved. I wanted to be and I liked all the people in the book, but I just didn’t get to know them well enough. This definitely hindered my enjoyment of the story.
Like I said, though, I do see Recovering Charles becoming popular with the masses. It is a heartfelt story, and it really makes you think about “second chances”. Was this one of my favorite books I’ve read this year? No. Did I enjoy it and think that others will too? Definitely.
Also reviewed by: Susan at Bloggin’ Bout Books.
I have this in the TBR pile as well. I was intrigue by the setting.