When I'm Gone: A Novel

4.3 | 44,227 ratings

Price: 19.08

Last update: 06-23-2024

Top reviews from the United States

Hazel's House

Great Book

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2024

This book was a very good one. It was also a bit of a tear jerker. This book is filled with questions at first but once the answers come to light, you see the hope that was traveled all through the tale. I think this is a good book for anyone going through some type of struggles and it brings life into a new perspective. You actually are where the author was going with this I just wish it had gone deeper at the end and told us what ended up happening to some of the characters, it seemed to have just cut off at the end like the author was rushed to finish it. Otherwise, I think I would highly recommend this book.

Carol Claflin

great read

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2024

So many twists and turns, and I feel a sequel in the future if there’s not one already. Keep writing

Amazon Customer

Full of twists and turns

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2024

I was captivated from beginning to end. I found this well written and the plot was intriguing. I highly recommend this

Leea Allen

Treat

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018

TREAT
A Book Review of When I’m Gone by Emily Bleek

How to treat a book review? Having written one real book review and read through a few, I have come to the question of how to treat a book review. Do I give my own opinion? Whether it is favourable or not? Am I expected to write only positive things and a few polite constructive ideas? Should I then not review the books I don’t like? Should I perhaps write reviews only on the books I can recommend? This leaves me in two minds about When I’m Gone. How should I treat a story of severe loss – death – and coming to terms with it? How should I treat a writer that clearly has faced the real possibility of her own death? I have to respect Emily Bleek for what she has done. I am glad she is writing. The plot is pretty plausible. After a slow start it also picks up towards the end. There are enough twists and turns in the story to make it interesting.

How did When I’m Gone treat me? It gave me some good hours of easy reading. It made me cry towards the end. It let me guess what was coming. It put me to sleep a couple of times. (Or was it the cream cake instead?) It made me feel cosy with the unassuming stereotypical characters. It made me happy when the main characters were empowered towards the end. It did not rob me with the 6 or so dollars I paid for it.

Was When I’m Gone a treat? No, not for me, but I can see that it is a treat for some readers. My expectations were high, but I am really looking at the subject from the other side. And I have not been lucky – I was left behind. I would have liked a little bit more faith in the main character, but then Emily Bleek too was looking at Luke from the other side – thinking about her own possible death.

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing, Seattle

Year: 2016

Pages: 358

Rating: 3/5

Mary Ellen Anglin

WOW...Just wow

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2024

This novel was amazing..it had every emotion that one could possibly feel. You cannot put this book down until you have read every last word. Totally intriguing. A must read.

Nikolean

Beautiful and Unexpected

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024

I find that I've usually figured out the twist in most stories long before the end, but this one surprised me. No spoilers. So much happens from so many characters near the end that I can almost forgive the slower middle. I rate books on the emotional reaction I have which tells me how well the author has tricked me into investing into a character. Well I definitely needed tissue for this one and I may have punched the air after a few infuriating plot points. This level of reaction is a winning combination. It was a bit too domestic as a reader of speculative fiction but 4.75 stars is my rating.

Tricia Z.

Not what I expected

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2022

Wow! This book was nothing what I expected when I first started reading it. I honestly didn't expect to get very far because I didn't think I could take reading a sad book about a dead wife after just finishing two previous books that were like fairy tales. Much to my surprise and after getting past a slow start, I found it hard to put the book down. It was surprisingly much better than expected.

The story is about a young widowed father and how he coupes with the loss of his wife. How he deals with her loss and manages life without her while raising their three children. Before his wife died, she made arrangements to help him along and reveals these arrangements through a series of letters. If you've seen the movie "P.S. I Love You" you will find this somewhat familiar. At the point this book and the movie seemed a lot a like and I thought it would be, there seemed to be new things that happened that I didn't expect. I don't want to go into a lot of detail for fear that I might give something away.

There seemed to be a lot of things happening in this story. Although I felt there were other similarities to other movies as well and not much originality, I still enjoyed the book. There was truly enough that kept.me interested and wanting to come back to the book to find out what happened. I find that once I feel I get.to know a character(s) in a book I want to know what know what happens.

There were parts of this storyline that made me cry, but it also made me smile and laugh. I found myself questioning myself as to what would I do if I was in Luke's situation? what if I was his wife and I knew I was dying? Would I have done everything she had done? Would I have left my family and friends letters? Would you?

Candace Joy

Keep the tissues handy

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024

I wasn't completely sure where this story would go as the secrets unraveled, but while I'd suspected the truth early on, the revelation still caught me by surprise in a perfect, tear-inducing way. Kudos to the author for crafting such a tale! I definitely recommend this story...just keep the tissues handy.

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