The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy Published by HarperCollins on June 11, 2013
Genres/Lists: Fiction
Pages: 224
Read synopsis on Goodreads
Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links)
Because today is Veterans Day, I thought it would be appropriate to review a book that has to do with war veterans. Although The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy is fictional, it’s heartfelt nonetheless.
The book is both a full novel and a collection of short stories. The chapters are told from the points of view of several different characters, but as the book progresses their individual lives become more and more interlinked. It is, ultimately, the story of how one man’s act of kindness can reverberate around the world and echo for decades. But because the book unfolds in such a way that any minute piece of information can ruin it for a new reader, I’m going to refrain from going into any more detail. Instead, I am going to leave you with some of my favorite quotes from the book and hope that you take my recommendation and pick it up. Oh, and there’s mention of an El Camino, so it scores bonus points from me.
“We’re all famous in our own hearts anyway.”
– Sébastian
“Whether you know it or not, we leave parts of ourselves wherever we go.”
– Amelia
“I think more people would be happier if they admitted things more often. In a sense we are all prisoners of some memory, or fear, or disappointment – we are all defined by something we can’t change.”
– Amelia
