The story was touching and the characters are realistic for the most part. I would have like to read more, though. Each character's new life could have been a separate story in itself. ( )

And Sometimes Why is a gripping tale of what happens to a family after a tragic accident puts their lives into a state of suspended animation. Watching this family fall apart reminded me in many ways of Jacqueline Michard’s The Deep End of the Ocean because in both cases, the parents are left to deal with a child who is not dead, but is in every other way gone.

Each family member comes to terms with the tragedy differently and in their own time. The grieving parents’ relationship is torn apart as they disagree over their daughter’s care. The distraught sister is the one who asks the hard questions and is the most realistic. She moves from the family home in California to Alaska with her boyfriend. One day on a walk she encounters a fox in a trap, still alive but suffering. She decides to put it out of it’s misery with her own hands. Afterwards.. “Each time she glanced down at the body.. she felt her horror fade a tiny bit. A body without life was an empty container. Nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to weep over.”

Ms. Johnson has done a great job of making her characters believable. They seem so real to me. It is a heartbreaking and compelling story, and so well written that it’s hard to believe it’s a first novel.

A book club would find much to discuss from And Sometimes Why. The ending is open ended and I find myself wondering what the characters would do next. This is a remarkable book and one I would highly recommend. ( )