Book 40: Eleanor by Jason Gurley

I truly enjoyed reading this strange little book.  I was a little scared at first, as I got it off of the Kindle lending library and I have not had the best luck with books from that source.

I am not even sure where to start on this one.  I immediately was drawn into the story and the characters, but I had no idea where the book was going and what it was about or where it was going, I just went along with it all. 

Let me see if I can describe  this....It is a story about a teenage girl named Eleanor, but we first start the story back with her Grandmother and namesake.  She has a young daughter and one day goes out for a swim and disappears.  Then we cut to the young daughter who is now a mother of her own, a mother of twins.  Then one day there is an accident and one of the twins is killed, Eleanor's sister.  From here there is another jump to when she is 13 and her family is in the aftermath of the death of her sister.  The whole treatment of a broken and dysfunctional family told from her point of view is heartbreaking and raw.

Then we get to the strange part.  The part that is nebulous, the part you just have to go along with.  There are other dimensions and connections and dreams.  And in the end there is redemption.  I am not able to express how engaging this part of the book was with out giving too much away. 

Random thoughts:
Eleanor:  How was she to explain what was happening to her?  Other people could see the effects, but how to explain the unexplainable?

Mea: I was completely there on all of it.  Living in the river of time, speaking with the darkness and pressing up against the membrane. 

The Keeper: This was where I was most confused, but by the end found it the most interesting.  All the anger and self-hatred.

All of the characters were well thought out, their actions and reactions felt real and that they came from a real place. 

I ate this book up.  I hope I am able to get others to read this one.  I have not been the best at expressing what is so awesome about this type of book where it is the unfolding of the story and the surprising places it takes you.  I want to see what their reactions to the process is.  I guess I will need to develop some better way to gush about this type of book.