Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller (Book Review)

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller (Book Review)

Aug 12, 2016, 7:32:11 PM Entertainment

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What this book is about: 

Peggy is an 8 year old girl going to school and living in a big house with her Mutti, Ute, a famous German pianist and her Papa, James, who is a survivalist/retreater(?). James and his other survivalist friends gather often in the house to discuss and often end up arguing about the end of the world and how to survive it. He even has a cellar where he gathers supplies to last for 2 years in case of an apocalypse. When Ute leaves for Germany and Peggy is left with her father, he has a heated argument with one of his survivalist friends and decides to go with Peggy to an adventure in a remote cabin. They end up living there for 9 years.

The following review was originally posted on my blog: https://mybookshelfdialogues.wordpress.com/

First of all, I want to start with the simplest and most superficial aspect of the book that I liked. The cover is beautiful and the title fits perfectly to the whole story. I would definitely like to have a physical copy since I read it on my Kindle.

The writing:
I could not believe this was Fuller's first novel. The writing is amazing! The descriptions of nature are so detailed that you can really "see it with your own eyes". And there are a lot of nature portraits in this novel. Moreover, there is a musical scene described in the way you would see it in the movie theatre. Excellent.

The characters:
Fuller did a really good job with Peggy's character which changes throughout these 9 years that we see her. When Peggy is younger she has a way of seeing the elements of nature, simple objects and nature itself as if they have a life and mind of their own. I found, also, very interesting the cognitive way in which Peggy dealt with situations that she could not control (If I do this then that will happen). Similar to the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder patterns of thinking. The father, James is also portrayed in a very raw was that makes you experience different emotions during the course of the story.

The story:
This was my first survival book and so I found it very exciting from the beginning. The story is shocking and raw at times but I appreciated how events are not sugar-coated but instead thrown at you at times you least expect it. There were many occasions, especially in the second half of the book that I did not want to stop reading. There is mystery from the beginning until the very end. The story keeps you guessing and thinking why things are happening the way they are. It actually reminded my at some point of Room. If you liked that book I think you are going to like Our Endless Numbered Days even more.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book from the beginning and when the story picked up I couldn't put it down. It involves mystery, adventure and the shocking picture of human nature. Our Endless Numbered Days is an excellent first novel that would translate perfectly into a movie!

You can buy this book from the Book Depository here:

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Professional Reader

Published by Lisa Skandali

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