The Boy Who Loved Rain by Gerard Kelly - REVEIWED

About the Book:
They say that what you don’t know can’t hurt you. They’re wrong.

Colom had the perfect childhood, the much-loved only child of a church pastor. Yet he wakes screaming from dreams in which his sister is drowning and he can’t save her.

Fiona turns to her husband, desperate to help their son. But David will not acknowledge that help is needed—and certainly not help from beyond the church.

Then they find the suicide pledge.

Fiona, in panic, takes Colom and flees… but when will she acknowledge that the unnamed demons Colom faces might be of her and David’s own creation?

This beautifully written and searching novel by poet Gerard Kelly explores the toxicity of secrets, the nature of healing, and the ever-present power of rain.

My Thoughts:

“Yes,” she said, knowing that her world, in that one word, would be unraveled.  (p. 189)

The circumstances that lead Fiona to say “yes” to releasing the hold of a lifetime of secrets on her heart and mind, does, indeed unravel quite a bit.  This story is about a family held in bondage to secrets that almost destroy them.  In each instance, it seems, the truth was deferred in an effort to protect the ones they love.  Yet, each time, the harm done by hidden truth is far greater and farther reaching than if the truth had been confronted originally.

This book was filled with surprises and hair pin emotional turns.  This is not a book for the faint of heart, because it deals with very delicate emotional situations that, unfortunately, are probably not that unfamiliar.  Colom bears the brunt of this emotional pain, and his actions escalate enough that his parents, particularly his mother, becomes desperate to find the root cause and deal with it no matter the cost.  It is a brutal battle emotionally.

There is not a strong, constant thread of faith throughout the story, but, like everything else, faith becomes something to be wrestled with and, sometimes, against.  Tragedy, injustice and cruelty cause every character of this story to stop and consider everything from a variety of very painful standpoints.  In the end, the battle is worth the pain and effort involved to fight.

This was a rather dark read, but it is told with honesty and sensitivity.  There is much to be learned if you allow yourself a time of looking inward to your own well-kept secrets.  What will the ultimate cost be to you and those you love?  Isn’t truth the only real way to live life?  I think Colum would tell you it is a much lighter load to bear than a life lived in the shadows of secrets. 

This is a good, but difficult book to read.  I will recommend it to those who are not afraid of some honest introspection.

About the Author:

Gerard Kelly is a well-known speaker and author of fourteen books. He and his wife live and work in France and co-founded the Blessed Network, a movement of young leaders committed to God’s mission on mainland Europe.