Ahern, Cecelia. The Gift. HarperCollins Publishers (2008).
If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be?
Every day Lou battles with the clock. He always has two places to be at the same time. He always has two things to do at once. When asleep he dreams. In between dreams, he runs through the events of the day while making plans for the next. When at home with his wife and family, his mind is always someplace else.
On his way into work one early winter morning, Lou meets Gabe, a homeless man sitting outside the office building. Intrigued by him and on discovering that he could also be very useful to have around, Lou gets Gabe a job in the post room.
But soon Lou begins to regret helping Gabe. His very presence unsettles Lou – and how does Gabe appear to be in two places at the same time?
As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time. He sees what is truly important in life yet at the same time he learns the harshest lesson of all.
This is a story about people who, not unlike parcels, hide secrets. They cover themselves in layers until the right person unwraps them and discovers what’s inside. Sometimes you have to be unravelled in order to find out who you really are.
http://cecelia-ahern.com/books/the-gift
The good news is: I liked this story. The interesting news: this author also wrote P.S. I Love You. The really neat-o news: She is the co-creator of the hit the cancelled show Samantha Who? on ABC! I loved that show. It was witty and Christina Applegate was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. It does make you kind of go “Ah ha!” when you think back to this book. It seems she has written/continues to write a lot for the screen. I wonder if that is how she wrote this novel. It seems as though there were parts that didn’t quite translate on paper, but if I had the visual cues (and possibly some instrumental music) it would have been more powerful.
Overall, this was a good book. Did I like it as much as some of the other books? No. Could I put it down? Not really. When I ask myself, what stops me from loving this book I can’t really put a finger on it. Maybe it was just the mood I was in when I read it (looking more for comedy, perhaps). I think I can’t really rave about it because this was not specifically a Christmas book, it just takes place around the holidays. However, it’s message was one we could stand to remember all year round; selflessness and emphasis on the truely important things in our lives (like family). I would recommend it to anyone who needs to remember the spirit of the holidays and to the workaholic in your life.
I read this toward my 2009 Holiday Reading Challenge. See my list of books here.
