Isabelle the Navigator

This was a truly poetic piece, I felt like I was reading a piece of poetic prose. This book could easily be in a philosophy section as well as fiction, however, he discovers the inner core of human relationships with this novel. I was surprised because the writing was so different from his other book "Candy." I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What draws you into this book is the humanness he interweaves into it. You don't feel sorry for Isabelle, but there are parts of her that reside in every one of us. He makes her real and she grieves in real ways like the rest of us, he shows us that even characters in a book are not above the human reality and we all have to grieve in our own way and our own time. He brings us through her childhood into adulthood and we go on the ride with her through losses of her father mentally and physically and discoveries she makes along the way about life.

After coming across Luke Davies first novel, Candy, I couldn't wait for the appearance of his next book. While Isabelle The Navigator lacks the powerfully compulsive magnetism of Candy, it is still nonetheless a work of art, displaying Davies's wonderfully poetic prose as he dives into the depths of grief. Isabelle had a wonderful childhood, brought abruptly to an end when her physician father Tom is arrested and sent to prison for Medicare fraud. She also discovers that her mother had been having an on and off affair with her uncle Dan, Tom's brother. Then her love of four years, Matt, is suddenly killed in a highway accident, which leaves Isabelle feeling as though she were an empty vessel. Davies probes the depths of Isabelle's grief with such rhythmical and flowing prose that her pain is intimately felt by the reader, capturing the intense and profound emotions like very few writers can do. He begins by wading in the shallows of the initial loss of her father's love, as Tom drifts further and further into insanity after his release from prison, eventually plunging headlong into the icy and numbing depths of acute grief after Matt's death. With scenes that smoothly move back and forth in time, Isabelle tells us the story of her losses and her determination to bring meaning back into her life while coming to grips with her past. From Davies homeland of Australia to the elegant charm of Paris to a brief visit to Hawaii, Isabelle finds that though her ghosts will always follow her, there is life after even the harshest of events strip away your intended future. Perfect read, wonderful and beautiful and uplifting even in its heartbreaking reality, Davies has written another winner with Isabelle The Navigator. Don't forget to pick up a copy of Candy also. Enjoy!

Well let me start by saying, it's not Candy. It's a great story, and a good read, but it's not nearly as good as Candy. An emotional story with great character devolopment and nice to read. It's a sad romance, and a beautiful story. Would certainly reccomend.