When I’m Gone

When I’m Gone
By: Emily Bleeker

My review in one sentence: It was a complex unraveling of a compelling story while still preserving mystery until the very last page.

I read this book through Amazon Prime- so with no prior knowledge of the book or the author. I was very pleasantly surprised. It has somewhat the same premise as P.S. I Love You with the letters after death aspect, but this book had a lot more mystery and movement instead of focusing on the mushy, sentimentality of the letters as P.S. I Love You did.

Natalie, Luke's deceased wife, refers to 'her secret' many times in the letters and Luke is left to figure out what it is and if his wife is really who he thought she was. I have to reference the book Truly, Madly, Guilty here because that book does something similar in constantly referring and discussing some unknown secret or event that happened and when I finally found out what it was, l was left quite unsatisfied with the result. I was worried the secret we found out in this book would make me think- 'Really, I read all of this for that?!' But where Truly, Madly, Guilty failed, When I'm Gone more than succeeded! It was a complex unraveling of a compelling story while still preserving mystery until the very last page. I thought it was just going to be a cryfest of a read for me, and I did feel sad while reading it on multiple occasions, but it wasn't the over-arching vibe of the book. It was more about discovering 'the secret' than 'saying goodbye'.

One more thing I need to add: Luke believes that when you’re dead, you’re dead, and that’s it. Nothing more. And his wife and kids want him to believe there is a heaven and that they will see each other again. This was heartbreaking to me. It’s a fictional story but something that plays out in real life all the time. And I want so badly for them (and everyone) to know that Heaven is very real. God is very real. And He wants a relationship with you. He wants you to want to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Where else can anyone find their hope? Dysfunction, disease, destruction, and death as exhibited on this broken earth are overwhelming, but there is very real HOPE! And I wish that would have been part of this story. I think the world needs a little more hope- the eternal kind that cannot be taken away. And that’s my extra two cents on this book.

Very good book, you won't regret reading it!