My emotions are all over the place right now. There are so many things this book made me feel, I don't know where to start. This book has evoked some deep feelings/thoughts/emotions and I hope I'm coherent enough to write them down.
I want to start by saying do not read any reviews if you haven't read the book yet (but if you must, this review contains no spoilers, so it's safe to continue reading). I don't want you to risk being spoiled. This book is such an emotional, beautiful, heart-wrenching and amazing book, I wouldn't want your reading experience to be affected by knowing the events that will occur.
No book has ever affected me this deeply. There were so many beautiful themes woven through this story and so many thought-provoking issues and events. I seriously need to reread this one day when my mind is clear, so I can indulge in the beauty and wisdom that's in this story. What makes this book so powerful is how realistic it is. Life can be hard, tough, rough, crude, painful and extremely unfair. With this book, Charles Sheehan-Miles doesn't try to pretend otherwise.
The Last Hour is the third book in the Thompson Sisters series. Each book in the series tells the story of a different sister. All books can be read as a standalone, so don't worry if you haven't read the first two books yet.
This is the story of Ray and Carrie. It's not an easy story. It's an amazingly difficult and hard one. It's an ugly and a beautiful story all at the same time.
Ray and Carrie meet when Ray has just come back from war in Afghanistan. Ray is Dylan's best friend and Carrie is Alexandra's sister (Dylan and Alexandra are the main characters in Just Remember to Breathe). They both feel a connection towards each other and explore it further in the days and weeks to come.
Ray comes with a lot of baggage and issues. The war has come with many consequences that Ray will have to face. The noble thing to do would be to not drag Carrie into his trouble, but he was falling hard for her.
Carrie had made his life matter and gave meaning to it. There was no way he could let her go and move on without her.
Ray and Carrie were perfect for each other. They were the most selfless, beautiful, caring, compassionate, courageous and loving people ever. He taught her to touch the sky. She showed him love and unconditional support.
Like I said, life is not fair and often times it's very unfair. Ray and Carrie are forced to deal with very stressful situations that have the possibility to tear them apart. Both get accused of things they didn't do that could lead to the end of their freedom or career. Through it all, Ray and Carrie stuck together and gave each other hope. They showed each other unconditional love and support. The faith they had in each other nearly killed me.
"Don't worry about all of this. We'll get through it together."
That's what they always said to each other. The good and the bad, they'd get through it together. And in the midst of all the terrible, something even worse happens. On their way to the zoo, they get hit by a jeep and Ray ends up in the hospital. His condition is serious and chances are he might not make it.
"It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. I'd done everything right, my whole life. I'd taken care of the people around me. I'd worked hard. I'd been honest. I'd been lonely, but mostly happy. Until the day I saw Ray Sherman crossing the green at Columbia. Ray had turned my life upside down, and made it mean more than I'd ever imagined. In the last nine months, I'd experienced both the highest and the lowest points of my life. Everything was raw and intense and sometimes truly horrible."
They had only had 9 months together of which 7 were absolutely stressful and hell. They were getting through it together, but now Carrie has to face the possibility that he might not be there anymore to help her through everything else.
"I've spent my entire life taking care of other people. And for a second there, it was like ... it was like he was right here. Like I could feel him." Her chin started to tremble, and then her whole body shook. "I finally found someone who took care of me. And I'm so afraid I'm going to lose him."
While Ray's body is in the hospital, his soul is wandering around. In this book we get both Carrie's point of view and Ray's point of view. The book starts with the car accident and takes us back in time to tell their story through flashbacks.
It kills Ray to see Carrie alone and hurting, but he doesn't know how to make her pain go away. And there's nothing else he wants more.
"I'm waiting for you, soldier."
Needless to say, these scenes broke me. The fear, the hope, the unknown, it was all too much. I wanted so bad for everything to be okay, for Ray to get better, for Carrie to see him open his eyes and smile again. I was hurting right along with Carrie. I kept crying on and off with this book. I was so grateful for the flashbacks, because the story would switch back to one of them when the present got too much for me to handle.
Grab what happiness you can, while you can.
It's crazy to see how fragile life is. How everything can change within a matter of seconds. That when you think you've been through hell and back, there will come a day that you'll realize you never knew what hell really was. No matter how silly you may think some things are, try to appreciate them, because ten years from now they will mean everything to you. Happiness is never guaranteed and it's not something we have a right to. It's something that's being granted, so take it while you can.
"I wanted to move on. Move on to the part where Ray wakes up and recovers from this accident, move on to a place where we could be together."
The war has destroyed many lives and has taken its toll on so many people. It has not only affected the ones sent to war, but also the ones that stayed behind. Charles has done a tremendous job in showing what war can do/does to people and to our world. Ray goes through some shit while he's in Afghanistan and he's faced with a choice that can make all the difference. His decision is what sets the fall of dominoes in motion and leads him to that hospital bed.
"Sometimes you have to make choices, and they're imperfect, but they're the only choices you can make and live with yourself."
Choices. That's what life's all about. It's what life is based on. Some things you can choose and some things you have no choice in, but in the end everything can be backtracked to one single choice you made. It might be irrelevant at the time you make the choice and you may not realize it. But that seemingly irrelevant choice will set in motion a chain of events that will lead to where you are years from then.
Small moment, missed opportunities, things we don't see or pay attention to at the time sometimes have a far bigger impact on our lives than we would have ever guessed in advance.
How do you trace back the chains of responsibility to a point where you could pin it down completely?
This story was about the choice to do the right thing and knowing what the right thing is. How much are you willing to give up to be able to sleep with a clear conscience? The right thing is not always the easy thing to do. Sometimes, the right thing may even be the hardest thing you'll ever have to do. But it's important that you do it, because your soul matters. It's about being able to look in the mirror every day and be proud of who you see. It's about being able to live with yourself and be proud of the choices you have made. Only when your soul is at peace, you can live in your body.
In the end, he did the right thing, even though it cost him everything.
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GReviewed in Germany on December 18, 2013
Wunderschön, traurig, zum Nachdenken anregend ….
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - S. AtkinReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2013
Powerful story
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
