"We are the sum total of the choices we have made." - Eleanor Roosevelt
If what old Eleanor says is true, what does that mean for all of us? Does every choice we make lead to some inevitable conclusion? Are there no mistakes that can be erased? Can we truly not outrun our past?
Those questions - the last one in particular - are the cornerstone of Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley. That's the plot. But the heart of the book is the relationship between a single dad and his daughter. It's a rough story at times - at others, it's sweet. And, it moved fast enough to read in a weekend.
The story flashes from present day to the dark corners of Hawley's life. We know from the beginning he's a man of scars, both literal and figurative. The flashback chapters each tell the story of one of the bullets Hawley's taken, slowly revealing the past he can never quite escape.
We learn of a two-person family who lives life on the run. It's a man trying to keep his daughter safe and a child who doesn't quite understand what's putting them in danger. It's about what happens when a man with a past tries to build a future and the wounds that never quite heal.
Nothing blew me away about this book. The writing was good, but wasn't trying too hard to feel philosophical. The characters were well drawn out. The journey it takes is compelling enough that you want to read it quickly to see where it ends. And, clearly, it was interesting enough to burn through in a matter of a holiday weekend. The ending felt a little tidy to me, compared to the chaos that preceded it.
Bottom line: I liked it. I'm glad I read it. But, it wasn't among the best I've read in recent months.
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