All That We Carried

GIVEAWAY

BARTELS, ERIN

ALL THAT WE CARRIED

The most treacherous terrain is found within.

Ten years ago, sisters Olivia and Melanie Greene were on a hiking trip when their parents were in a fatal car accident. They haven't seen each other since the funeral. Olivia coped with the loss by plunging herself into law school, work, and a materialist view of the world -- what you see is what you get, and that's all you get. Melanie dropped out of college and developed an online life coaching business around her DIY spirituality -- a little of this, a little of that, whatever makes you happy.

Now, at Melanie's insistence (and against Olivia's better judgement), 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 to see that perhaps the best way to move forward is the one way they had never considered.

My Review:

This is a hard book to review because I'm still on the fence about it in some respects. Was it thought provoking? Yes. Inspired questions that caused me to reflect? Yes -- in fact, I was desperate to find someone who has read the book and have a good chat-fest about it! (I think it would make a really great book club selection because there are lots of talking points.) But...I'm still floundering over how I actually feel about it over all.

I found the wilderness setting fascinating -- definitely the trek Olivia and Melanie take is way out of my city-livin' comfort zone so getting to live through their daring (and scary!) adventures was eye-opening. The author is just as adventurous as this sister duo and her love of nature and God's creation comes through in every descriptive phrase. 

And, while the idea of estranged sisters mending their relationship held great appeal...actually living with their sniping and bickering was hard to deal with sometimes. It was a loooonnngggg hiking trip. :-)

Now, here's the funny thing, I really could not connect with Olivia and was far more willing to extend grace to younger sister Melanie. That's funny because I'm the youngest in a sisterly duo so the know-it-all, hyper-vigilant, overly-organized, always-right Olivia just grated on my very last nerve.  

Meanwhile I found myself totally sympathetic to Melanie's peace, love, and happiness mediator vibe -- even if she blithely embraces bits and pieces of every world religion and culture according to her whims. She could be just as annoying as Olivia, in her own way, and yet, I found myself excusing her actions while I went all judgmental on her older sister. I'm sure there's some deep psychological reason for that which is entirely not the author's fault. I blame growing up with my sister. :-)

About half way through the book there's a subtle shift where it ventures into allegory territory -- I think, anyway. One of the reasons I'd love to book-talk about it because...well, I can't say without giving anything away but I have ideas about a certain character. 

This is the part of the story that shakes Olivia and Melanie out of their hurtful patterns and becomes the catalyst to their reconciliation. I would have liked more closure on this aspect of their story. Bartels leaves it pretty open ended and while I can see why she chose to do that (yet more talking points for a book club!), I tend to like my stories wrapped up in a nice little bow, which is my problem, not the author's. 

All in all a captivating and challenging novel that's just a bit different from the norm.

Book provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications Inc.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a paperback copy 

If you would like a chance to win a copy of All That We Carried, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winners announced on Saturday March 20  2021. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!