Rain Song

Alice J. Wisler
Bethany House (2008)
ISBN 9780764204777
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (11/08) 

 

If I had to condense Alice J. Wisler’s “Rain Song” into one word only, it would actually be an easy task to accomplish. The first word that comes to mind after having read it is “exquisite.” Everything about it is truly lovely, starting from the beautiful cover and continuing through the sharp, yet delicate writing contained within.

The story is deceptively simple. Nicole Michelin, a teacher, leads a simple and quiet life in Mount Olive, North Carolina. She’s surrounded by a host of wacky relatives and she shares her living space with an aquarium full of fish. Her boyfriend recently broke up with her, but she’s fine with that too. Commitment just isn’t something she’s willing to deal with at this point in her life. Nicole was born in Japan, but moved back to United States as a little girl after having lost her mother in an accident. Ever since then she’s been afraid of many things, Japan and airplanes being very high on that list.

But then the unthinkable happens. Nicole gets an e-mail from a reader of her online column about fish. Harrison Michaels lives in Japan, and Nicole badly wants to avoid any extended conversations with him, yet her heart pulls her in the other direction. She begins to truly look forward to the e-mail exchanges. After a while Harrison lets her know that he knew her as a child, back in the days when she lived in Japan. And he has other links to her past, the past she knows so little about and wants to get to know so much. But for that to happen, Nicole will have to let go of her fears and face the stark reality. Can she do it?

“Rain Song” is a truly wondrous book, funny and wistful and wise and brave at the same time. It’s full of tiny exquisite moments, marvelous descriptions and astute insights. It’s a book about letting go, about taking flight and about facing your fears. It’s a book about learning to trust yourself, forgiving the past hurts and letting yourself jump off the edge to get where you truly want to go. It’s a book about ties that bind and traditions that truly make a family. It’s a book about true beauty that sometimes lies deep within. It’s a book about regrets, about betrayals and about friendship. More than anything, it’s a book about love in its many incarnations.

You can read “Rain Song” by Alice J. Wisler for the engaging characters or the incredible Southern Truths. You can even read it just for the Pineapple Chutney recipe. No matter what your reason might be, it will not leave you unchanged.

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