The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves
Sometimes you read a book and you sigh with contentment, then go about your day without looking back. The book resumes its place on your bookshelf, the days pass, and life goes on. But other times you finish a book in tears and ask your husband for a hug, then the next day you pace around the room on the phone with your mom discussing your favorite parts, then the following day you recommend the book to your best friend along with a list of reasons justifying its readability, and then the week afterward you make a list of ways you want to change your life for the better, inspired by the story you can’t stop thinking about. If you are seeking that second journey, as all avid readers do, read The Girl He Used To Know.
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Tracy Garvis Graves is an artist and our hearts are her canvases; with paintbrushes named Understanding, Redemption, Acceptance, Growth, and Perseverance, she paints color into our lives through vivid descriptions, inspiring character development, and a sense of momentum that is weaved with care from start to finish. At times the reader experiences events alongside the characters as though we are side by side, hand in hand, going through life together; still other times we are on the outside looking in, wishing we could say something or do something to help, prevent, usher along, encourage, or applaud. The reader easily empathizes with Annika’s struggles without humoring her or feeling bad for her in a degrading way, which is a very delicate line that Graves walks expertly. We see elements of ourselves in Annika and in rooting for her, we are rooting for ourselves. And in Jonathan we see what we deserve, but we also see the positive impact we can have on others’ lives if we are the kindness and goodness others need; in that way, we learn to look for the Jonathans in our lives, but we also feel inspired to be a Jonathan to someone who needs us. The romance is tastefully told, the tragedies are handled with grace, and the struggles open our eyes with realism without beating us over the head unnecessarily.
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Graves’s novel is poignant, inspiring, empathy-inducing, motivating, self-reflecting, vivid, artful, and beautiful, all at once. Readers will close the book reluctantly but will rest assured that the heartfelt story and its life lessons will live with us long beyond the bookshelf.