Update: Changing this to a 5 star (4.5) because I still can't think about this book and not want to cry.
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After I finished this book, I wasn't sure how to rate this or review it at first. Some books take you on a gut-wrenching journey and finish off with everything tied up in a nice little bow. God-Shaped Hole left me with, well, a hole in my heart.
The bulk of this book is Beatrice's relationship with Jacob Grace, a writer with joie de virve. She is drawn to him before she even meets him, when she comes across his ad in the LA Weekly:
If your intentions are pure
I'm searching for a friend
for the end
of the world
They are meant for one another--
"Here's the thing," Jacob continued, "I feel like we grew in the same womb or something. Like we've been connected from the beginning by blood and veins. Siamese soul lovers, if there could ever be such a thing."
They share the same sense of abandonment from their fathers and the same loathing for LA, where they live and anxiously await the moment when they can flee. They plan their escape: After Jacob completes and sells his novel, they will move to the south. Beatrice wants to settle in Georgia. Jacob insists on Tennessee.
About halfway into this book, I paused to write down the word dread. From the moment she met Jacob, I felt dread. It was this heavy cloud looming over them, the ticking clock that only she could hear. If you've read the little blurb on the cover, (I'll spoiler tag it for those who haven't)
When I was twelve, a fortune teller told me that my one true love would die young and leave me all alone...
then you have an idea of what is going to transpire. And even though I reluctantly anticipated it, I was surprised at how emotional I was when it happened. Tiffanie DeBartolo has an amazing talent with weaving words together that not only tell a polarizing story, but affect you. You live within these pages, and feel what the characters are enduring.
I liked this book a lot, maybe even loved it (I can't tell yet, my heart is still in pieces). It's beautiful and tragic, and definitely a tearjerker. This wasn't just about the love story of Beatrice Jordan and Jacob Grace, but also about life and filling the void that exists in all of us-- that God-Shaped Hole.
"I put away my notebook, stood up and went back to the car.
I had to keep going."
4/5 stars