Review: The Laws of Harmony

Title:  The Laws of Harmony

Author:  Judith Ryan Hendricks

Published:  February 10, 2009

Page Count:  496

Genre:  Contemporary Fiction

My Rating:  4.5/5

Sunny Cooper has been running since she was eighteen—from the New Mexican commune where she grew up . . . and from the haunting memory of the freak accident that took the life of her younger sister. Now, at thirty-two, Sunny voices radio spots in Albuquerque while struggling to hold on to a floundering relationship. But when a second tragic accident—and the devastating truths that come to light in its aftermath—turns her world upside down, Sunny runs again.

In the town of Harmony on San Miguel Island, she takes a new job, learns to ride a motorcycle, and makes some surprising new friends. But the past is never far behind. A startling discovery—along with an emotional and revelatory reunion with her estranged mother—is forcing Sunny to step out from the shadows of yesterday to embrace an uncertain future.

Okay, I’m just going to be as honest and straightforward as possible with this one:  I loved this book.  I loved Sunny from the first page and couldn’t put the book down because I just had to find out what would happen to her.  I loved where Hendricks took the plot – SO much happened that I didn’t expect.  Especially in the last hundred pages or so (don’t worry, no spoilers here!).  But really, it’s a long book, but it’s long because so much happens, and it’s all good and interesting and fun to read about.  And sometimes heartbreaking, but in a good way (you know what I mean).

For me, The Laws of Harmony came down to being about how the past has such a huge impact on our present and future.  But also, that perhaps it shouldn’t have the kind of impact that it does.  Sunny spent her entire life trying to get away from the place where she was raised, and the ways in which her parents raised her.  Yet, just when she thought she got “away”, things that happened to her kept coming back to haunt her and affect her life.  Try as she might, she just couldn’t escape her past.  But for me, I feel like the real lesson Sunny needed to learn (and did learn, I would say, by the end of the book), is simply to forgive.  Forgive those who have hurt you, forgive the universe or God or whatever for taking away someone so special, and forgive yourself for bad decisions along the way.  I love that Sunny grew so much throughout the book – I would say that by the end, she really did forgive those that needed forgiveness, even herself.

I found it very interesting the characters that Hendricks chose to focus on near the end of the book, and even more interesting the characters she decided to leave out.  There was one character in particular who I was sure would come back into Sunny’s life in a big way, but never did.  And the one character who WAS a big part of Sunny’s life in the end was kind of a surprise for me.  I also like how ambiguous the ending was – Hendricks definitely left it open for a sequel (which I’d LOVE to see!).

I can’t recommend The Laws of Harmony enough – reading it was a wonderful experience.  I’m shocked that I’d never heard of Judith Ryan Hendricks before and I’ll definitely be looking to read more from her in the future.

I read The Laws of Harmony as part of a TLC Book Tour.  Check out the rest of the tour here.  As a side note, today is Lisa’s birthday!  Go wish her a happy birthday.