I Love This Story In This Life & The Next
David Arnold pens a beautiful story of life, interconnectedness, and the music that weaves it all in, I Loved You In Another Life. Two characters present the world to readers, Evan Taft and Shosh Bell. Though they go to the same school, the pair barely know one another. But, as Evan begins to hear music that no one else can, he starts to record it and as more lyrics come, the song and its mystery unwinds. In the end, though Evan has no idea who Nightbird is, he feels she has chosen him to share his song but does not know why or how. But, as the songs feel less of a mystery, Evan begins to feel as if they are pointing him somewhere- to a place. Like the song is drawing him a map and that he should follow it.
Evan is a little like one of the characters shared in the book, from the past. First, there are the lovers who briefly find one another in Paris, in 1832. When Solvi comes from the North for revenge, she carries the little she has in possessions and money. However, she finds herself with a song all her own and alone. That is until she follows a bird and finds Etienne.
He is drawn by her appearance (not that he takes it as good) and even though the pair cannot speak the same language, they spend every moment together, from that time on. They get a pair of tattoos, and both get the same bird, at the time, out of place for anyone, not a criminal or royalty. However, when they both contract the cholera that is raging through the country, they die in one another's arms, their short story over, but, only for a moment, it seems.
From then on, there are others, over the years, Ewan who paints a girl that only exists in his mind in Unst, Shetland Isles, 1899. And, while looking at a painting in town, a girl who makes his heart lift from "his boots to his chest to his throat" when she approaches and says, "I found du," even though he hasn't seen her before- in this lifetime, that is. Only in his thoughts and dreams, until that moment. Because they always find one another, somehow, eventually, someway…
When Shosh realizes that her song has stolen words and phrases from The Nightbird, a song from Norway, for her poetry writing, she is horrified. And she doesn't even remember the last time she heard the song or if she had ever heard the song. And when Evan and Shosh begin hanging out, both having paired together over sharing loss in their life, things get dicey when Evans compares her to a "Tarantino film" and himself, a "Judd Apatow, on a good day." And while I loved the reference, Evan could never be more wrong. He is just better at hiding what is inside than Shosh.
Readers are also going to love reading that, along with thinking that the world was flat; In the past, at that time, people also thought that birds migrated to the moon in the winter. Evan brings it up several times, ponders it throughout the story, defines the very nature of him, and proves that he is a "Tarantino" picture too. He is a deep, insightful, and delightful character to see the world through his eyes, as is Shosh.
But, what are Evan and Shosh meant to see in and about each other? Are they two souls who are always seeking out one another? What is their connection and do they even have one? And, if they do, what is their connection to the past? And, if you love someone in another life, do you have to love them in this one? Should they be together from every moment onward? Or, should they live the lives they planned before they met one another...again?
David Arnold writes the beauty of lovers, not just star-crossed but ones who travel through lives and time, always drawn to seek and find, always with the same words swirling, "I see blue," which was such a beautiful sentence to carry. And even if this is one stop in the endless search to find one another, it is a beautiful story, it is a meaningful story and it makes readers wonder, is there some deeper meaning to my life too? Should I pay more attention? Is there something I need to find too?
And, like these two lovers, maybe they won't find it in this life, in the next, or ever, but the journey, the loving, and everything in between- all of it is worth it. Because life is so precious, after all. And David Arnold reminds readers of this in I Loved You In Another Life. A five-star read, and one that will be on your shelf, to open again and again.
Happy Reading!
Evan is a little like one of the characters shared in the book, from the past. First, there are the lovers who briefly find one another in Paris, in 1832. When Solvi comes from the North for revenge, she carries the little she has in possessions and money. However, she finds herself with a song all her own and alone. That is until she follows a bird and finds Etienne.
He is drawn by her appearance (not that he takes it as good) and even though the pair cannot speak the same language, they spend every moment together, from that time on. They get a pair of tattoos, and both get the same bird, at the time, out of place for anyone, not a criminal or royalty. However, when they both contract the cholera that is raging through the country, they die in one another's arms, their short story over, but, only for a moment, it seems.
From then on, there are others, over the years, Ewan who paints a girl that only exists in his mind in Unst, Shetland Isles, 1899. And, while looking at a painting in town, a girl who makes his heart lift from "his boots to his chest to his throat" when she approaches and says, "I found du," even though he hasn't seen her before- in this lifetime, that is. Only in his thoughts and dreams, until that moment. Because they always find one another, somehow, eventually, someway…
When Shosh realizes that her song has stolen words and phrases from The Nightbird, a song from Norway, for her poetry writing, she is horrified. And she doesn't even remember the last time she heard the song or if she had ever heard the song. And when Evan and Shosh begin hanging out, both having paired together over sharing loss in their life, things get dicey when Evans compares her to a "Tarantino film" and himself, a "Judd Apatow, on a good day." And while I loved the reference, Evan could never be more wrong. He is just better at hiding what is inside than Shosh.
Readers are also going to love reading that, along with thinking that the world was flat; In the past, at that time, people also thought that birds migrated to the moon in the winter. Evan brings it up several times, ponders it throughout the story, defines the very nature of him, and proves that he is a "Tarantino" picture too. He is a deep, insightful, and delightful character to see the world through his eyes, as is Shosh.
But, what are Evan and Shosh meant to see in and about each other? Are they two souls who are always seeking out one another? What is their connection and do they even have one? And, if they do, what is their connection to the past? And, if you love someone in another life, do you have to love them in this one? Should they be together from every moment onward? Or, should they live the lives they planned before they met one another...again?
David Arnold writes the beauty of lovers, not just star-crossed but ones who travel through lives and time, always drawn to seek and find, always with the same words swirling, "I see blue," which was such a beautiful sentence to carry. And even if this is one stop in the endless search to find one another, it is a beautiful story, it is a meaningful story and it makes readers wonder, is there some deeper meaning to my life too? Should I pay more attention? Is there something I need to find too?
And, like these two lovers, maybe they won't find it in this life, in the next, or ever, but the journey, the loving, and everything in between- all of it is worth it. Because life is so precious, after all. And David Arnold reminds readers of this in I Loved You In Another Life. A five-star read, and one that will be on your shelf, to open again and again.
Happy Reading!