Sunday Review

For today’s review you’ll need Kleenex. Lots and lots of Kleenex, but believe me, it’ll be worth it!

 

Trapped by Ofelia Gränd

Charlie Wilkins had everything he wanted—a husband, a daughter, a house that was his home. He still has his husband, but William has forgotten who he is. He still has his daughter, but the roles have switched, and she is now the one taking care of them.

There is only one thing Charlie wants, and that is to spend the rest of his days with William by his side. But William is living in a nursing home, and Charlie is living…somewhere. Ann says she will fix it; she’ll make sure they’ll get to live together again. Charlie hopes she will before William either escapes or figures out Charlie has left him in someone else’s care.

I knew reading the blurb that this wouldn’t be your typical HEA story and I was right. It’s about an old couple who are split up because of health reasons (involuntarily) after being married for 43 years. William has forgotten who Charlie is and Charlie himself is old and frail and can’t care for him anymore. So, despite Charlie promising to never leave William’s side, he has to. Charlie feels like crap about it and it hurts his poor old heart that William doesn’t remember him or their daughter anymore.

Then there’s Charlie, the loving old man, always by William’s side. He’s an unreliable narrator, and gradually the reader realizes all is not what it seems…

This was a beautiful story, full of love from the first page to the last. It broke my heart and healed it all at once.

When I wake up tomorrow and don’t remember who you are, know that I love you and I don’t regret a single thing. 

Ofelia Gränd’s writing is superb: the way she introduces Charlie’s mental issues is so gradual and sneaky that I didn’t see it coming. Or maybe, if I’m completely honest, I didn’t WANT to see it. If my suspicions turned out to be true, it would just be too much for my poor heart. All is not tears and sadness, though, there are some funny moments too, even if they made me giggle and sob at the same time. Like when William looks himself in the mirror, doesn’t recognize the old guy staring back at him and insists it’s Yoda.

This book spoke to me on so many personal levels. My biggest fear in life is that I’ll develop Alzheimer’s or any kind of dementia. Something about the prospect of forgetting my family, the people who are most dear to me, scares the shit out of me. On top of that, I’m 45 years old and have been with my husband for half my life already. If we were to be split up when we grow old like Charlie and William…I would feel just like Charlie did. Devastated. Half.

All those reasons are why this book…broke my heart. I sobbed my way through all 54 pages of it.

Even if it isn’t your traditional love story where the two young men ride off into the sunset, it still has a HEA of sorts. Not just the kind we’re used to in romance.

It’s definitely worth both your time AND your money. Read it, you won’t regret it.

Rating: five scrunched-up tear-stained tissues.