Grief, Death, Guilt, and Other Cheery Matters
There are two things you need to know about Australian writer Christian White’s audible original audiobook Second Skin. The first is that it is really good. The second is that it is pretty brutal. The novella’s first act alone involves two vicious stabs to the heart as you read about the separate deaths of a protagonists' child and spouse. Think about that first 20 minutes of Pixar’s Up, and then multiply it by a few. Listeners suffering from emotional trauma due to the death of a loved one should think about skipping out on this one.
The story revolves around two characters. Nine years ago, Stan survived a car accident which took the life of his daughter Lucy. Weeks later, his wife also lost her life. (Like I said, the start of the novella is emotionally hard to get through.) Nine years later, Marcy, a struggling young single mother, gets a call from her kid’s school. Her nine year old daughter Erin is having dreams and drawing pictures about how she died… in the past… before she was born. Young Erin tells her mother she knows she is the reincarnation of Stan’s wife. She describes their life together, their home, their daughter, and memories only Stan’s dead wife could have known. What’s more, Erin also remembers things about her previous life which even Stan doesn’t know. Things he should know about.
White’s novella offers quite a lot to chew on. Beyond an interesting premise and well written prose, White offers an interesting exploration of that ultimate question: where do our loved ones go when they die? Do they simply dissipate? Do they go on, to some other “place”? Do they linger?
As Stan struggles to determine whether or not young Erin is really his reincarnated wife, he struggles with evidence, his natural skepticism, and his desire to be reconnected to his wife. White explores why we believe the things we believe and what proof there is for those beliefs. Still more, he looks at the question of whether the things we believe have far more to do with what we wish were the case.
The novella also offers a very insightful look at ways we handle (and often cannot handle) grief when someone close to us dies. He gives us an insightful look into the ways grief is often intermingled with guilt, and the ways we struggle to find forgiveness from people who are no longer there to forgive us.
White’s Second Skin had me hooked from the start. The concept and its execution were fascinating. The novella ends up going places I didn’t expect, mostly for the better. If I had to point to one part which is a bit weak, it would be the “twist”. However, even though the twist doesn’t quite work, the journey there is enjoyable and it actually doesn’t affect the ending much. So, in my humble opinion, this one is worth your time.
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