Night Road

Night Road  by Kristin Hannah

When you think about twins, you think about the bond that exists between them. Sometimes their secret language, sometimes their ESP with each other, and sometimes their shared likes and dislikes. But did you ever think about what it would be like to be the mother of twins? Or what it might be like to lose one? Did you ever wonder how the surviving twin might feel? I know that I never did, fortunately Hannah did and has written a beautiful story about this.

The twins in the book, grow and fall in love with life, their friends and one friend in particular. Both of the twins fall in love with Alexa Bail, Lexi, in different ways. It is this loves that shapes the story and all of the characters in it. Lexi is Mia’s, one of the twins, bff and she is the girl that Zack, the other twin falls in love with, for better or worse.

The twin’s parents, Jude and Miles are pillars of the community, good strong and caring people. They are more than comfortable. The mother in this story is, by the author’s admission a helicopter parent. Yet the way the character is written is never odious .Lexi’s Aunt Eva, the woman who took her in and raised her, works at Walmart and lives in a rented trailer. She is not financially comfortable but she is strong with a tremendous moral compass. There is a tragedy one night involving all three children and the reaction by their relatives splits the book into two parts. Eva is a lady who knows family and what it means without all the trappings of success . She is able to function after the tragedy to try to protect her niece. Jude cannot function and falls into despair. Both lose a child in this tragedy, and both handle it very differently.

 I have never read grief described the way that Hannah writes about it. Jude’s grief and her struggle to overcome it and come back to her life are so poignant and so believable. I found myself both crying and lost with her. I literally felt the sense of gray that Hannah writes about and I found myself getting cold with her. The inability to function, to feel is part of the emotional roller coaster is handled skillfully. It never becomes maudlin and I never found myself annoyed with how the character was written.  Anyone who has lost a loved one will be able to relate to Jude on a very visceral level.

Equally interesting and well written is the story of Lexi after the incident. Hannah has written about a young girl and the choices that she made, honorable but disastrous for her. The story of her and Zack is so well written that I can’t say enough good things about it. Zach’s reaction to everything is not what you would expect. Anyone who has ever fallen in love deeply will appreciate their story.

This book held my interest from the moment I picked it up. I could not put it down. Hannah has written a beautiful story that explores so many themes and she does it brilliantly. I did not want this story to end; of course I know that it had to but I kept wondering what Hannah would do with the characters if she had gone a little further in the story.