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Sarah1984
Sep 05, 2014Sarah1984 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
27/7 - This was half coming-of-age, half fictional memoir. Whisky Charlie Foxtrot tells the story of twin boys who drift apart over 20 years, eventually being drawn back together after a life-threatening car accident puts one of them in a coma. I completely sympathised with Charlie as my brother and I had major personality clashes of our own as we were growing up and now, nearly at the same age as Whisky and Charlie, are managing to have family get togethers without an argument. He lives in another state and only comes back home for special occasions a couple of times a year (thank God! I don't know what I'd do if he actually moved back in with us). I really enjoyed reading a book set in my (what I now consider) hometown of Melbourne. Talking about places I actually know and recognise from their descriptions. Some of the frank discussions with the counsellor regarding Whisky's prognosis were almost enough to give me nightmares thinking about how I would handle it if I was in Charlie's place with a member of my family in a coma. I know what their wishes are, but I don't know how successful I would be in carrying them out, always thinking "they might start to wake up tomorrow" and therefore never being able to do what's best for them, instead of me. There was a certain point near the end where I had to put the book down to wipe the tears properly, they were too copious to just blink back and they just kept falling. I'm not a big fan of books that make me cry, so it was fortunate that the worst scene was towards the end. I'd read too much to say "I'm not reading anymore in case there's more crying", so I just wiped my eyes on my sleeves and kept reading. Glad I did. Three and a half stars, not four.