Book Review: Mt. Moriah’s Wake

 

Orphaned at age eight, JoAnna Rivers was raised by her eccentric aunt in the bucolic southern community of Mt. Moriah. Now a twenty-six-year old would-be writer, JoAnna faces several crossroads: in her marriage, in her career, and in her faith. She left home for Chicago in 1997 immediately following the murder of her best friend, Grace. Now she comes back to Mt. Moriah for the first time in four years to attend her aunt's funeral--and realizes that she must confront both the profound sorrow she feels over Grace's death and the mysterious guilt she carries. She must finally grieve.

A hauntingly sweet story of love and loss that alternates between JoAnna's childhood in Mt. Moriah, her life in Chicago and her present encounters upon returning home, Mt. Moriah's Wake ponders deep questions: When we experience unspeakable tragedy, do we see ourselves as victim or survivor? Is it possible to regain happiness in the face of such? And how do we find our faith again, once it is lost?

]As her past and present worlds collide, JoAnna grapples with these questions--and her journey moves toward an unexpected conclusion.

My Review

I did like this book. The author's writing style is lovely. It was kind of poetic in that the story just flowed. It was calming. All of the characters were good. Although, I did find myself struggling in the beginning to form a bond with the characters and therefor an emotional connection to the story. Which I did find to be slow reading as well in the beginning. Ok, I take it back a little that I did like JoAnna's Aunt Doro right away. She was the mother figure that JoAnna needed. 

Where the story is concerned, I found myself staying more focused on the past then the present. As Grace's voice was more prominent in my head. My feelings stayed this way for about halfway through the book than the story seemed to pick up for me. From the halfway point, I became more focused on the overall story. Overall, I did like this book and would try another book by Melissa.