The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood

Holy crap is it hard to type something up for a book, I thought this would be fun. Yet I keep deleting everything I type up. I get angry cause it isn't flowing how I want it to. Or how I want to type something that is in the book without it being a spoiler.

I can't be perfect, so this may suck to you. It sucks to me, but thats okay.

Damn I should just be my weird self and type this damn whatever you wanna call it..... Enjoy you other library whores.

If you already didn't read the title, below is the title and author.

Book - The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud
Author - Ben Sherwood

3/5 stars

When I started reading the book, I was confused. Even the title confused me. I discovered this book because of the movie trailer I saw on a website. I was instantly pulled in by the trailer, but I can't say that about the book. The book and movie trailer are different. The book is soo hard to get into, it was like torture for about 30-40 pages, maybe even more. I kept waiting for the romance aspect to come. Also, I should mention the book and movie are different, in the movie he is about 17-18, where as in the book he is 28 (I think, I already forgot). The promises are also even different, even probably the girls role in the movie is different.

This books is basically about promises, moving on and the bond between brothers.

Anyways....

"I believe in miracles."

Is what the first sentence of the book says.

It opens with the narrator, for just the beginning and ending, recalling some of his past rescues and times he has failed to save a life. There he takes you to the story of the St. Cloud brothers; Charlie and Sam.

Fuck it, if you read the back of the book, then you know Sam dies. I don't know why I'm screwing around and not wanting to say that but yeah, I just did. ANYWAYS, Charlie and Sam "borrow" their neighbors car to go to a baseball game, on the way home they are hit by a drunk driver. The narrator appears at the scene and finds both technically "dead". Then it goes to the after life with Charlie and Sam and there they make their promise to never leave each other. Though Charlie is brought back to life and Sam is failed to be revived.

After the accident Charlie soon discovers he can see Sam's ghost. Basically, Sam is in the "in between". Other words a ghost. Charlie soon learns what he has to do to make sure he is always able to see Sam's ghost. Flash forward 13 years and thus the story begins.

The book is told from not just Charlie's point of view but from Tess', the main female lead.

The romance in this book is fast romance. Meaning "Hey I met you yesterday, but damn I'm in love with you like I've known you for years."

Also, there are moments you want to chunk the book at a wall (Esp. in the middle of the book). I don't recommend doing that, seeing as I hate seeing abused looking books. All I can say is stick with it and don't assume what I assumed.


Anyways,

I liked these lines from the ending narrators part.

"That is the inescapable math of tragedy and the multiplication of grief. Too many good people die a little when they lose someone they love. One death begets two or twenty or one hundred. It's the same all over the world."

"That's death and life, you see. We all shine on. You just have to release your hearts, alert your senses, and pay attention. A leaf, a star, a song, a laugh. Notice the little things, because somebody is reaching out to you. Qualcuno ti ama. Somebody loves you."

Basically I didn't want to blog about this book, but I did. I will go back and edit this better, when I dont have a killer headache and sleep deprived.

Oh and I'm soo not behind on my blog! You know who you are! Why don't you make a blog and we will see how fast you blog about a so-so book! Hehe.