Author: Alan Rossi
ISBN: 9781529002331
Copy courtesy of Pan MacMillan
Nicholas and his wife April live in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They are driving home on a deserted mountain road late at night when a freak accident occurs.
They are survived by their 4-year-old son Jack, who is safe with a baby sitter. The problem arises when no will or instructions about Jack’s guardianship has been left.
Who will care for Jack and what would have been April’s and Nicholas wishes?
The book is narrated in 4 parts.
The first is Nathaniel and as Nicholas brother, he believes he should be the one to care for Jack. He and his wife Stephanie weren’t sure that they themselves were ready to be parents, and now tough decisions need to be made.
Next Katherine. As Nicholas’ Mum, she believes she is best for Jack. She is grieving in an unusual way with a code of silence. Her marriage is complicated.
Then April’s mother. She is driving from the other side of the country, where she lives, to come and collect Jack. She hasn’t had much to do with her grandson. She is desperate to claim him to have a second chance at raising a child. As a single Mum to April, she wishes to make amends for the “mother” she wasn’t to April.
The next is Nicholas himself. While he is trapped in the car wreck for many hours, he has time to reflect on his life.
It is a story of a family’s grief. However, life must move forward after a tragedy. Decisions need to be made. The book high lights how important it is to leave instructions. Anyone’s life can change in an instant and you could be required to step up.
Initially, I found it hard to get into the book, but it is worth persevering.
Three and a half stars.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members have been reading Mountain Road, Late at Night. You can find out what they thought in the comments section below…or add your own review!
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
Nicholas, April and 4 year old Jack live in a cabin in the mountains.
Late one night on their way home from a party Nicholas and April are in an accident on a desserted road. They both die as a result leaving behind Jack.
Nicholas’s brother Nathaniel and his wife Stefanie are Jack’s Godparents and move in to the cabin to take care of him.
April’s Mother decides to drive across the Country as she believes that April would have wanted her to be the one to raise Jack.
The book is divided in to four parts from the perspectives of Nathaniel, Nicholas and Nathaniel’s Mother, April’s Mother Tracey and finally Nicholas.
I actually struggled with this book. I found the fact that there were no quotation marks veryn frustrating.
It was interesting to read from each perspective how they each dealt with their grief differently but to me it didn’t really come together and I felt dissapointed with the lack of closure at the end.
This is just my opinion and I am sure it will appeal to others.
Thanks to Beauty and Lace Bookclub for the opportunity to read this book
Mountain Road Late At Night it was well written getting to know the people in the book better.
It was a sad event that happened and change everyone who was involved with the family.
This book is written quite uniquely with long rambling sentences and paragraphs to reflect the inner thoughts and viewpoints of the main characters impacted by the car crash which kills Nicholas and his wife, April.
The result of this crash and who is to care for the surviving child, Jack, is the main storyline and the reader is drawn into the sadness, the reflections and raw thoughts of each of the people who believe they are best placed to rare Jack. In the final section, the reader is drawn into Nicholas’ fight for life as he ponders his past, including what caused the crash, and his feelings about Jack and Jack’s future.
I understood the reason why Rossi chose to write the story in such an unusual way. The reader was inside the rambling mind of each of the main characters but this style would not be enjoyable for everyone. I took a while to get used his writing and upon reaching the conclusion of the book I felt a little unsatisfied. I neither loved nor hated the book.
Thanks to Beauty and Lace and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book – it certainly reminded me of the fragility of life and I wanted to hug my children.
I found Mountain Road, Late at Night a bit hard to get into. The characters are all well written and are given in-depth descriptions but each person has their own agenda why they want to take on newly orphaned 4 year old Jack. Sad how his parents die, sad that no instructions were left to advise if anything happened to Jacks mum and dad, who was to be his primary carer. It’s probably too close to home the absolute unknown if anyone was put in this situation.
The big deals with the aftermath of what to do with the orphaned boy Jack after the sudden deaths of his parents in an accident. The confusion, guilt, lack of clear direction when the close family memebers try to pick up the peices and decide what is best for the young boy. The book deals with this internal grief of the relatives as they try to cope and decide what to do while dwelling on their past relationships with their loved ones. The dismal feelings are clearly captured in the tone of the book. It makes one give pause and think about ones own life and decisions we have in place in case of emergencies.
This book was definitely unique in how it was written. There were multiple narrators but all of their views were in individual sections and the book went from one to the other. It was interesting to think that this is how individuals actually think rather than the tidy presentation often given to the public.
I did struggle a little with it as others have mentioned it didn’t seem to have a neat and tidy ending with everything all wrapped up but perhaps it is due once again to the author sticking to a more realistic point of view. That life problems aren’t all solved in a half hour or murders solved in an hour like TV would have us believe.
I think it showed the flaws that everyone has and that we all have sides of us we don’t show the world. I thank Beauty and Lace and Pan MacMillan for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I found the internal dialogue in this book difficult to get into at first. It makes you think about your own mortality and how your life can and does change forever when someone passes away. It becomes even more difficult when children are left behind.
Not for the faint hearted but an enjoyable read