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Matthew Rich

Reviewed on Aug 23, 2020

Must read 🏆

The story is great, and the writing is what really got me into the book.

Synopsis

A deathbed promise isn’t the end. It’s the beginning for one grieving family.

When Sissy came to visit Liz and Cliff Gordon, they weren't expecting her to stay. But she was pregnant and newly widowed, and more importantly, the Gordons loved her. Together, they and their children formed a family—non-traditional, but extraordinary.

Eighteen years later, when cancer takes Sissy, she leaves behind a legacy so vibrant the family’s grief threatens to break them.

Told from six perspectives and set in sun-drenched Santa Fe, New Mexico, Celebrating Naked explores motherly love, romantic love and the love of true friendship. This debut coming of age novel is the tale of a family’s heartbreak but it reminds us that grief is a byproduct of love.

" This is a mature, wonderful, provocative and starkly memorable narrative that unfolds seamlessly." - BookLife Prize

This was a really good book. I don't usually read novels about loss and love, but my girlfriend convinced me to try it out. The story is well told, and the characters are well developed, but the writing is what got me to really enjoy this book. The way the author talks about the setting of Santa Fe is especially cool, and every line about the place makes you want to go there and never come back! The same goes for the very detailed way details about shapes and sounds and smells kind of take the narrator away into another world, or old memories. It's just a really interesting way to weave through the different perspectives and get hooked into the way each person is experiencing things. I hope more people will read it and see the Celebrating Naked world the way I did. Great book!

Reviewed by
Matthew Rich

Writer and photographer, loves books, art, poetry, and music

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