A best seller in Irish book stands, 'P.S.I Love You', Cecilia Ahern's first book, made for easy week long reading.
Essentially the story of a widow living through the first year of sorrow and grief, it becomes something more than that, when Holly starts receiving envelopes her husband has addressed to her every month for the year.
That is the twist in the tale that keeps one going through the pages, in anticipation of the hero's loving rejuvenation of his grieving wife's life. It is to see the heroine emerge from her sadness, ready to accept that life has to go on. It is also about hope and the power of the human mind to adapt to and accept terrible losses that one can face in life.
The story is about getting over loss and pain, learning to live your life by accepting distressing changes, finding that life just doesn't end when someone close to you dies and getting back to the realities of life with the support of loved ones. A good story, unusual story line and a close peek into the physical and mental trauma of a woman who loses her husband and a man who lovingly resurrects his wife's life after his death - all the necessary drama, albeit a little surfeit, is there to make you go through the pages.
The book wasn't exactly
addictive; at some point, it even became predictable; too soapy and
sentimental in print, the book nevertheless helped me pass time in a
vague emotional bond.
I could not but help recall the movie based on this - Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler, bringing to life the two characters in a way that the book didn't.
The tighter narration of the story, coupled with some breath taking chemistry between the two actors and the visual brilliance of the Irish landscape made the movie more memorable than the book. I mean, if I'd read the book first, I might've forgotten about it in a week or two - but the movie, who can forget, Butler prancing around doing a stripper act and Swank, drowning in the sorrow of the memories so fully and tearfully with so much genuineness...Sometimes, movies make classics of books. This is one.
©Chitra Lakshimi 2012. All Rights Reserved.
Image courtesy : Amazon.com