Humans have always wondered about death. Well, more about what happens after death. This books is just about that, only a bit gruesomely.
Molly is a sweet 16 year-old, who was brutally murdered. She woke up to a gray landscape, next to a gray pond, with a bunch of gray, emotionless… people(?) All of them are spirits, or ghosts, whichever you prefer. All of them Fade. All of them have different Fades.
When Molly Fades, she is a hitchhiker on Frog Road. She’s been doing this for centuries, but who’s really counting. In her Fades, she can see things of the lives of the people that pick her up. She has met countless of people, seen thousands of lives, but no one like Tatum.
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Tatum is a senior in high school. She is bullied for something she didn’t do. She is tortured for something she didn’t do. She will be murdered for something she didn’t do. She can’t believe Claudette, her best friend, could be so cruel. Her life is a living hell and she can’t wait to get out of her shitty town.
She wakes up, goes to school. By the end of the day, her tires are will probably be slashed and peed on; she always has spares, especially since it’s her bullies’ go-to. They’re not very creative.
Tatum loves Frog Road. It’s her small escape of her hellish life. The mindless driving, the imaginary freedom.
One night, she’s driving through Frog Road and she sees a girl standing by the side fo the road with her thumb-up. Tatum knows how dangerous it is to pick up hitchhikers; she knows that the girl could be a serial killer, but it’s pouring and the girl is wearing nothing but a peasant blouse and a skirt. The girl is Molly.
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I have become an atheist. After spending countless of Sundays in church, going through my first communion and my confirmation, I stopped believing in the Church and in God too. But every time that my very religious family brings up my lack of faith, they argue for my soul. How could I stop nurturing my soul? They don’t want my soul to end up down there. Well, if I have one, I wouldn’t either.
I am currently in a philosophy class, so right now, I just know that I know nothing. I know that I don’t know if there is a heaven or a hell, or a purgatory for that matter. Nor do I know if we are born with a soul, if it is crated as we go on living, or if we even have one. I know nothing.
This book presents a possible scenario, specifically for horrific murder victims — which I hope I won’t be (#FingersCrossed). In any case, I like what Roberts poses as a possible afterlife. It’s neither heaven or hell, it’s like a little piece of earth that’s not completely earthly. But it is a place that reminds people, or spirits, or ghosts, or whatever, that even if they’re dead and gone, it doesn’t mean that they weren’t alive once. Alive with feelings and emotions. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It was those emotions that brought life to people and places.
I think that this situation is a metaphor for life. In the sense that, sometimes people are hurt so very badly (emotionally or physically), that they think the best thing to do is to ignore what happened, repress the memories, try to forget them. So much so that your world becomes gray, unchanging. You are not dead, but neither are you alive, you’re just there. It is in these moments that you have to remember that happiness comes again if you let it. So those emotions and feelings and memories that you’re trying so hard to forget are the ones that will bring you back to life. It won’t be easy, the remembering and the feeling, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
THIS BOOK IS MORE THAN RECOMMENDED. I LOVE YOU ALL. I LOVE YOU ALL. I LOVE YOU ALL.
P.S. I only know that this book, is awesome.
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