Book Review: The Bright Years

[Note: This was the last book review I wrote before my 21-year-old, addicted son died of overdose. I am leaving it as I wrote it that day. I certainly could not pick this book up now!]

How I wish I couldn't relate to this much-lauded book! Set in Texas, Sarah Damoff's debut novel, The Bright Years, deals with love and loss, secrets and addiction. It chronicles the life of the Bright family, as told from three perspectives. The husband Ryan is hiding an addiction. The wife Lillian is hiding a birth. Amid these secrets and tumultuous challenges, daughter Georgette struggles to endure and thrive in a life full of trouble. The story slowly unwinds to reveal the fallout of their humanity and fragility. It fills the reader with an ache of both beauty and tragedy.

What strikes me most about this book, is that it clearly demonstrates grace and redemption amid torment and brokenness. Life can be such a delicate thing! Loss, while difficult to bear, can break us open to appreciate the blessings we experience. Without the rain, do we know to value the sun? It is a hard book to read, but a positive experience in the end. Anyone loving an addict will wish they didn't recognize the truths and examples revealed in this fictional tale. And if you are fortunate enough to explore this fiction from afar, thank your lucky stars that in reading, you only have to experience this second-hand. 

I explored Sarah Damoff's website. She looks so young to have written a book with such deep insights. The page for this book offers a reading group guide, a playlist, and the first chapter of the book. This story holds much conversational fodder. It would make a great book club selection.