Around Again

I finished reading the book a few weeks ago, but I haven't had time to write about it, or figured out exactly what I wanted to say. I may not have figured it all out yet, but I found a little time.

This is the third novel I've read by Suzanne Strempek Shea, and not my favorite. I loved Finding Finola, but I haven't been able to find the same rhythm and feeling in the other two books I've read. Finding Finola was a hopeful, inspiring book for me. Around Again was a little depressing.

What I've decided about Around Again, is that it is a lot about fear. Mostly about how fear can rule our lives. And it's a little bit about love, and how love can change us and maybe even dispel the fear.

The protagonist, Robyn, is torn between fear and love, but she allows her fears overcome love. She basically cuts herself off from everything she loves for thirty  years because of fear. The whole conflict is born out of fear. Fear of social rejection, fear of the unknown, fear of something that isn't even real.

But the saviors in the novel, Robyn's aunt and uncle, are driven completely by love. And although Robyn says throughout the novel that she knows what is real, it turns out that she was completely mistaken and what is real is the love that she ultimately rejects.

Although I probably won't read the book again, I have enjoyed thinking about it and the reminder that most of what I fear is in my own imagination (the future), and that what I love (family, God) is what will save me from my fear.