This was a gripping and heart-wrenching novel. I cannot even begin to fathom walking in the footsteps of Edward.
Eddie is a 12 year old boy. His parents, Bruce and Jane, plan to move the family, including Eddie and his older brother, Jordan, across the country but their plane goes down. There were 187 passengers on the plane, 186 died. Eddie is the sole survivor. Napolitano tells the story of Eddie’s rescue, hospitalization, and transition to living with his maternal aunt Lacey and her husband John.
The novel starts out June 12, 2013 7:45am and ends at June 12, 2013 2:12pm. The chapters alternate, one chapter telling of real-time during flight and the other chapter telling the hours, days, weeks, months and years after. It concludes in 2019, so we get a full picture of how Edward grows and changes.
Eddie feels as though he has died during the crash as well, only his body surviving. He has now become Edward and everyone wants to see, touch, or talk to Edward, the survivor of the plane crash, not Eddie, the boy who is grieving with all of his heart for everything he has lost. People want to know Edward’s story, seeing him as a miracle child for surviving. Others want to know if Edward saw their loved one who died on the plane, wanting to know what their loved one’s last minutes were like. Were they scared? Were they in pain? Did they know what was happening? Others realize the huge amount of funds that Edward now has because of the settlements from the crash and see this as an opportunity.
How does Edward find his way to being Eddie again? How does he manage to wake up each day facing a loss so devastating I cannot even begin to imagine. His aunt and uncle take him to a psychologist, which would be a natural response. It’s amazing, though, that healing begins with another child, Shay. Edward finds bags of letters sent to him and is determined to answer each and every letter. It’s amazing to see the connections Edward makes and how sometimes these connections are like a light to him in an otherwise very dark path.
How can Edward grieve when his grief and loss are on display for the whole world to see? I think he did what many of us would do and just shut down. Napolitano also describes all of the collateral damage from this crash. A fierce wedge develops between Lacey and John as they differ about how to best “help” Edward. I imagine that all other family and friends of the victims were forever changed and were also collateral damage.
It’s beautiful to think that Edward is able to find a way back to who he is. Maybe I can’t say back to who he is because is that really attainable after all of the tragedy he experienced? I think he is un-arguably forever changed. Maybe it’s not finding a way back to who he is, maybe it’s finding a way to live, cope and breath all while acknowledging and honoring the loss. Truly an amazing read that may put you in tears because of sadness but also because of the amazing ability to heal even when healing seems utterly impossible.
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