Mandy Reviews: Shared Emptiness by John Brinling

ASIN #: B004Y6E62E

File Size: 964 KB

Format: Kindle Edition

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

A portrait of the harrowing despair and remarkable courage of a middle-class family tormented beyond endurance by a mindless act of violence.

Chris Carter, at 24, a medical student, had it all. Good looks, intelligence, a winning personality, a loving family. His girlfriend, Louise, was his dream girl, and he had everything ahead of him, everything to live for ...

Until he was mugged after walking Louise home from his sister's birthday party - and his world and the world of all those who knew him was changed forever when the Catholic Church's vehement opposition to euthanasia forced them to choose between their friend and their God.

Mandy's Review:

Set in late-1970s Pittsburgh, Shared Emptiness is a look into the life of the Carter family. With a strong Catholic background, you would think that they'd be a close-knit family. They are in the sense that they stick up for each other, but behind closed doors they are loners.

Vince and Frannie are the parents of Chris and Jeannie. Vince is addicted to the horses and rarely wins. His habit is bad enough to borrow money from family members and even a priest. This shames Frannie. She's known about his habit and has tried to supply him with enough money. Frannie is basically a push-over and does everything for everyone she can ... until she's reached her breaking point, then she's demanding. But that happens rarely and when it does, she often apologetic and becomes the same push-over afterwards that she was before.

Jeannie is a selfish, flirtatious, immature lady. She wants what she wants when she wants it. If someone doesn't cater to her, she takes offense. Her life abruptly changes one fateful night and opens her eyes. She finally sees what she's doing wrong and, with the help of others, begins the necessary changes for the better.

Chris is the glue that holds the family tenaciously together. He is the peacekeeper. He is the understanding ear, the shoulder to cry on, the confidant. He is everything to everybody. As a medical student, his belief in his Catholic upbringing is left by the wayside. He no longer believes in God.

Then the night of Jeannie's 21st birthday party happens and everything changes for everybody.

With supportive characters in the forms of aunts, uncles, cousins, priests, nuns, doctors and everyday joes, Shared Emptiness will take you on an emotional roller coaster.