Now, at Melanie's insistence (and against Olivia's better judgment), they are embarking on a hike in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In this remote wilderness they'll face their deepest fears, question their most dearly held beliefs, and begin to see that perhaps the best way to move forward is the one way they had never considered.
Michigan Notable Book Award winner Erin Bartels draws from personal experience hiking backcountry trails with her sister to bring you a story about the complexities of grief, faith, and sisterhood.
Comment: I cannot remember why this book was in the pile. I probably saw it being mentioned somewhere and decided to give it a go...
In this story sisters Melanie and Olivia, whose relationship had been strained for years, since the death of their parents in an accident caused by Olivia's childhood friend Justin. Melanie accepted his apologies and they became closer, even friends, but this wasn't seen well by Olivia. Now, they are going to hike the Porcupine Mountains as an attempt to reconnect although Melanie has a secret agenda, to mellow Olivia enough so she can tell her something... As for Olivia, she is in a crisis, but she can't say no to try to mend things with her sister but what they experience while in this journey is more than a metaphor for their lives, it's also a wake-up call...
This story started off quite well for me and I was turning the pages with enough eagerness, especially since it's the first book I try by the author and I was new to her writing style.The story drew me in and I was rooting for the sisters to find a way to be close again, as we know they were as children, as shared by a few snippets here and there at the end of chapters.
I also knew this book was labeled as christian fiction, and I expected according content, which didn't bother me that much, for the point, it felt, was not exactly to preach - considering the exchange of POVs the sisters have - but more a soft leading to claim certain christian values are worthier than many might think. I also know some readers didn't really liked this part, while others, of a clear christian faith/background, praised it. I will not say it's good or bad, only that the author did try to make it part of the sisters' conversation and experience.
Of course, anyone could identify a few obvious signs this story is a bit of a metaphor for why choosing to be a good christian makes "life better" and that even those who don't belief should accept that there are things not easily explained. I didn't feel bothered by these musings and hints at a higher force because the other elements of the story were strong enough to allow for perspective, but yes, some scenes are a little exaggerated.
For me, the best part of the story was seeing each sister behave according to her own personality and how this affected their decisions, especially while dealing with the travel plans. I also loved the descriptions of the hiking and the landscape, the whole setting element was great. I was surprised to learn people could camp in the park, and more than that, that they could have their own fire at the campsite they stayed in. I mean, I don't know how it is in my country's national parks, but this sounds very strange, I even googled the official website and checked the maps with the campsite locations, and yes, people can make fires to cook/to warm up. This sounds like a problem waiting to happen... unless the camps are watched by park rangers or something?
Anyway, things were progressing well enough, I was quite happy with the conversations the sisters were having, and then something happens to propel the sisters to a more definite exchange, or if one prefers to go with the christian clues, something happens to lead Olivia to trust maybe someone is watching out for her. Now, this part of the plot felt contrived and unnecessary. Couldn't Olivia reach the conclusions she did without this element, which I've found to only added melodramatics? It was as noticeable as to make me think and decide to lower my grade.
I also disliked one other thing. There's a character in the story who, I assume, is there to be a metaphor of Christ or something, to the sisters. He helps them with camping stuff and other things but then he seems to disappear from the story at the end. We have a hint, in the epilogue, he might have been just a coincidence, which means it's up to us to imagine his actual role. This annoyed me because why highlight this? People can be the friends we need without us seeing them as unobtainable and/or perfect, isn't it? I would have preferred this character to simply be what he was portrayed as: a fellow hiker who helped them when they needed.
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