Friday, March 4, 2011

Losing Faith - Denise Jaden

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Indiebound Summary:
A terrible secret. A terrible fate.

When Brie's sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral farther and farther off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don’t know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but.

As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith’s final night...a secret that puts her own life in danger.

Review:
I read this book for The Contemps challenge they are hosting. Overall, Losing Faith is a story about death, the people left behind and how they grieve. The thread that connects most of the character is their loss of a love one and how each person has a unique way of dealing with the pain. Jaden adds a twist to the story with Brie's investigation on the mysterious death of her sister, Faith.

What shines in this story is how Jaden approaches the themes of death, grief and faith. Through the different families, Jaden reveals how the death of a love one can tear apart a family. In Tessa family, her mother left because her father could not move on. Brie's father buries himself in work, while her mom loses faith in religion and closes herself off. Both become overprotective of Brie, yet ignoring Brie's longing for comfort. Alis' father spend long periods of time on the road and his sister finds salvation in religion. Also using the different character, Jaden displays different ideas of faith. How faith can be a balm of the living and how faith can sometimes go too far.

What needs polishing is the mystery element of the story and some of the relationships between characters. Why would Alis tell Brie (who he just met) all about his crazy sister, especially if it might implicate her in Faith's death? Especially since she's all he has since his father never there. It was a little too unrealistic for me. And the mystery plot needed some work. The climax where everything was revealed seemed rushed and forced. I didn't think there was enough of a established foundation to have to cult thing thrown in so late and I don't know if I missed it, but how did someone with Faith's strong testament in her religion get involved in something like that? I just think that the mystery needed some tighter plotting.

Losing Faith was a good distracting read and has its good parts, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. It could have been great with stronger characters, a tighter mystery and a more tied up plot. To sum up, I liked it, but with reservations.

Book Source: borrowed from work

Author Website | Indiebound | Losing Faith

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