THE LOST SAINTS OF TENNESSEE
By Amy Franklin-Willis
The Lost Saints of Tennessee was the perfect book for me to read right now, after having just finished reading a harrowing memoir. It was uncomplicated, endearing and engaging. That isn’t to say it was shallow or empty, because it wasn’t at all.
The story follows Ezekiel Cooper, a 40-something divorced father of two girls. When the story begins, he finds himself still unable to cope with the drowning death of his twin brother 10 years earlier, his divorce, and what he feels is his nowhere life, and he is seriously considering suicide. He begins taking the steps to follow through on his plan, when even that goes awry. Although this isn’t a humorous book, there are elements of humor in it, and this is sort of one of those times. But only sort of.
There is also pathos and pain in the book, dealing with the death of loved ones and how our own families are often the ones who hurt us most, even when they are loving us as hard as they can. I related very much to that part of the book and especially to this line: “Does each of us have a quantity of forgiveness allotted to him? And once exhausted, do we lose the ability altogether?”
I really enjoyed this book. It was well-written, and kept my interest throughout.
Reviewed February 2018
House of Black and Blue 