First Day of the Rest of My Life

by Cathy Lamb

[Leah]

Cathy Lamb isn’t an author I know particularly well, however when I saw the cover for her latest book I rather fell in love. I thought the girl looking out over the water was very atmospheric so I decided to look into it a bit more and I thought the synopsis sounded very intriguing. I then took a peek at the beginning pages of the novel (which, by the way, is the best invention ever; I can always tell from the first few pages if a book appeals or not) and after enjoying the opening of The First Day of the Rest of My Life, I decided to buy it for myself. It’s a bit of a strange looking book. It’s not a true paperback, but nor is it really a hardback and the pages are “deckle edged” which basically means they’re uneven and it looks as if it was cut wrong – it isn’t unique, it’s annoying. However book problems aside, I dove into the novel, hoping it would live up to its beautiful cover.

The First Day of the Rest of my Life surprised me. The synopsis isn’t necessarily right. Yes, Madeline is a life coach, yes she had a very rocky childhood (to put it mildly) but I don’t remember any kind of “tough, handsome judge with a gentle heart” that “urges Madeline to have faith in him”. That’s false. There is no man like that. There is a man. But he’s vague for most of the novel, at best. Synopsis aside, I found the book fascinating. It’s not a happy book at all, in fact it’s one of the hardest books I think I’ve ever read, particularly in parts, and what happened to Madeline, and her sister Annie, is not the kind of thing you usually see in a Chick Lit/Women’s Fiction novel. I found the plot just to be so fascinating and I felt Lamb had the right tone for the novel, with regular flashbacks to the past, as we find out exactly what happened to Madeline – and her entire family – in years gone by.

My favourite part of the novel was definitely the plot line involving Madeline’s grandparents. Her grandma has dementia, which is one of the worst diseases in the world, and Lamb handles it so sensitively, but she also doesn’t shy away from letting us see Madeline’s grandma at her worst, at her most confused. I don’t mean to demean what happened to Madeline and Annie by saying I preferred their grandparents plot, I just felt that it was handled so, so well that my interest was hugely piqued. Madeline’s grandma and grandad’s backstory is massively important – in fact, it’s as if the whole novel is built on an intricate web of lies – and the pace with which we find out the truth is just right. A little bit here, a little bit there, and it is heartbreaking. I won’t say what it is, because it’s immense and worth figuring out yourself, but believe me when I say it will tug at your heart-strings.

I found the characters to be extremely fascinating. I liked the fact that Madeline was a life-coach. It was sort of serendipitous how she’d come to tell people how to live their life despite not having control over hers. I’m a firm believer that just because your life is in disarray it doesn’t mean you can help others. I found Madeline to be so likeable. Both her and Annie could have imploded multiple times during the book. There are so many secrets, so many things they have to keep bottled up, that I’m surprised both were as sane as they were. What I liked best, though, was the way Madeline and Annie had never let what happen to them come between them, how they stayed close despite everything. That’s a true sisterly bond, that is. I also liked their grandparents. I did, I did. My favourite character, though, was Marie Elise, the girls’ mother. She’s passed away during the novel’s present, but she’s integral to the book and she just seems to radiate through the entire novel. What she did for her daughters was immense. It was admirable, frankly. Any parent would do what Marie Elise did and I can’t say I much care for how wrong it was. Nope, I just admire her for doing it.

I really enjoyed The First Day of the Rest of my Life. It isn’t a light and fluffy read, it isn’t something you’re going to smile about, even if it did make me laugh in places, mainly whenever Marie Elise was around. Those who are somewhat faint-hearted will not enjoy learning what happened to Madeline and Annie; I consider myself rather strong-hearted and even I was sickened by it all. I’d definitely recommend the book. I wasn’t entirely sure, when I started it, if it was my kind of thing but I sort of sunk into the book more and more as I read it. It slowly but surely sucked me in until I could barely put it down. I’ll definitely be picking up Cathy Lamb’s other books. She’s a very honest author and she tells her stories with conviction. The characters were so unique which really helped the novel, and I just enjoyed the novel, I really did.