#Reading log
2016-08-28: I like reading books that tells me about other places and situations. I get a deeper understanding of the world from that. In About Grace it has several detailed phases of Winkler’s life and how his routines was in these different places. He spends 25 years on a remote Caribbean island and he spends a whole winter in the northern part of Alaska. These are two completely opposite styles of life and I like how I find out how he’s dealing with his surroundings in both circumstances.
2016-08-29: It has a powerful story, this book. 📚 About Grace started so beautifully, so poetic. Then it has taken over into a philosophical debate over moral rights and wrongs. David thinks that he will be the instrument of his child’s death. He’s seen it in his dreams. Dreams that eventually turn into reality. When all the signs starts to add up, he decides to leave. He thinks it’s the only way and I understand him and his reasoning. But it looks so wrong from the outside. He takes a ship to the Grenadine Islands in the South Atlantic and ends up with a new life, never knowing if his daughter is still alive… It’s terrible and heartbreaking but very interesting so far.
2016-09-05: David Winkler grows up with his mom in Anchorage, Alaska. He is fascinated by snow and the weather. As he gets older he starts having dreams which turns out to happen in reality. The biggest question in the book, and for Winkler himself, is if he has the ability to change the outcomes of his dreams or if time itself is already set in its course. A question that really come to test when in one of his dreams he sees the death of his daughter…
As I’ve been reading About Grace, the book has managed to stay with me. I’ve been thinking a lot about Winkler’s horrible dilemma, how he handled the situation and how he moved on with his life. What I always find fascinating with books is how they can describe people, life and routines from so many different locations in the world. I learn much from that.
I got to know how Winkler dealt with his surroundings in the most freezing part of Alaska as well as in the tropical heat on St. Vincent, a remote Caribbean island. The book has a slow-paced, almost poetic style and it works so well for me. It lets me breath, and think. I regard this book dearly and Anthony Doerr has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Earlier this year I read 📚 All the Light We Cannot See which also had a beautiful story with memorable characters. I feel for Winkler. Deeply. I can sense his confusion, his cry for help. But what I deeply admire in his character is his calm. No matter what happens he always stays observant.