Review: Waiting for Eden

Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cried through this book. I am so grateful to Goodreads, the author and Knopf Publishing for offering this book in a giveaway. I might not have discovered it otherwise. Yes, I did win a paperback copy. This review is my honest opinion.
My son was just 18 when he went to Iraq. What happened to Eden and our narrator were my nightmares the entire time he was deployed. I waited to hear from him. I waited for someone to come to my door. I waited and I prayed...for a call or letter, for no ring of the doorbell. I thought a lot of my time waiting as I read about Mary’s waiting and, also, the narrator’s wait. Though the story is about Eden and Mary, he is also a part of it and he is waiting too. I don’t know how I feel about Mary. I understand the choice she made, or perhaps I just think I do. I don’t know what would have been choice. I like to say, I would have made the right choice. The truth is, though, I don’t know. My heart breaks for the three of them. It breaks harder for Andy. In a sense she lost every parent.
If you are checking out this review, then you had an interest in the book. I recommend you read it. It is my pick for the most profound book I have read this year. It is going to haunt me. Buy Kleenex, a lot of Kleenex, and read this book. I read it twice to do this review. I will read it again. I will think of Mary, the narrator and, mostly, Eden.

View all my reviews