book review: The Regrets by Amy Bonnaffons

details

Format: Ebook — Length: 305 pages

An intriguing concept about a bureaucratic mixup delaying entry to the afterlife, The Regrets ended up being a romantic fantasy in which two characters fell into intense love that is destined to end even as it begins. The book also provides a nonstop, sometimes exhausting, exploration of sex, desire, and fantasy as the characters are guided by little else.

summary

Thomas dies in a car crash, but when the angel comes to take him to the other side (a process which inexplicably involves a handjob), she realizes they’ve already met, throwing a wrench into the process. Now Thomas must wait on earth for 90 days, alive but not, while this is resolved. He should avoid forming attachments lest he incur Regrets. So he meets Rachel, a librarian, and they fall passionately in love. This is a problem since Thomas’s time is ending and he is beginning to fade. The story is told from Thomas’s perspective, Rachel’s perspective, and another man’s perspective who had some attachment to Rachel, I can’t entirely remember.

thoughts

Bonnafons’s writing is beautiful and poetic without ever becoming over much. That said, the book never clicked for me, largely because I am a slow-build-romance sort of person, and this was sexy and electric. I simultaneously felt bad for and disliked every character. The sections told in the different characters’ points of view didn’t seem to mesh, but it was still a relief to switch between perspectives to feel like I could get some more insight into why everyone had stumbled into this mess. Everything is sexualized – each person, every relationship, death, all of it – which left me asking why every time I picked it up.

I recommend this book for people intrigued by the concept of what comes beyond death and are interested in a unique take on love, loss, and moving on. Also for those who crave a good ghost love story, but find The Ghost and Mrs. Muir a bit too tame. Go into it knowing (in case I was not clear before) that you should be comfortable reading about sex.

The Regrets by Amy Bonnaffons

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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