All That We Carried, a contemporary fiction novel by Erin Bartels, tells the story of two sisters who’ve been estranged for a decade.
Melanie, the younger Greene sister, convinced older sister Olivia to go on a hiking trip in order to reconnect. After the deaths of their parents in a tragic accident, the sisters had grown apart, and it was important to Melanie that she patch things up with her hard-headed sister. Olivia, the one more focused on having control over everything in her life, threw herself into planning the hiking trip—to the point of giving Melanie a list of exactly what and how to pack. When they came together for the trip and Melanie hadn’t stuck to the list that Olivia had given her, Olivia was alarmed, annoyed, and wanted to back out. Melanie won her over, however, and on they went.
The journey was filled with heavy topics. Their emotions ran the gamut, their spiritual struggles splayed bare, and one obstacle followed the other during the hike. A kind soul named Joshua happened along their path and saved the day more than once. Joshua happened to know their names and had all the right advice for their problems. The only thing he couldn’t [wouldn’t?] do was make them work out their problems.
The storytelling in All That We Carried was nice. The story’s pacing was really good overall. The ending felt a little rushed and disjointed to me. The resolution was open-ended and left me asking questions and feeling a little troubled for the characters. That’s my personal opinion on that matter—another reader may come away with different feelings.
Erin Bartels’ well-defined characters in All That We Carried were stunning, and their problems felt authentic and unique to them.
I look forward to reading more of Erin’s books.
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I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher but was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.
My review details my own honest and frank opinions.
