Charlie St. Cloud. Finished 4-28-18, 4.25/5, fiction, 273 pages, pub. 2004

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud tells the haunting story of a young man who narrowly survives a terrible car wreck that kills his little brother. Years later, the brothers’ bond remains so strong that it transcends the normal boundaries separating life and death. Charlie St. Cloud lives in a snug New England fishing village. By day he tends the lawns and monuments of the ancient cemetery where his younger brother, Sam, is buried. Graced with an extraordinary gift after surviving the accident, he can still see, talk, and even play catch with Sam’s spirit. But townsfolk whisper that Charlie has never recovered from his loss.  from Goodreads

Charlie and his brother are besties and when Sam is killed and Charlie is spared, both lives are lost.  Fast forward a few years and Charlie works at the local graveyard as its caretaker and can see and talk to the spirits of dead people who are stuck in between.  Sam is one of those spirits.  Charlie, because of a promise, plays catch with Sam every day at sunset and the boys continue to lean on their bond.  But then comes along this girl and everything changes.  I don’t want to spoil too much by saying more, but graveyards and spirits and love are some of my favorite things 🙂

This was a fun readathon book, sentimental, romantic and just the right length.  I read Sherwood’s first book, The Man Who Ate the 747 and loved it. It was quirky and endearing.  When I saw the trailer for the movie when it came out years ago I somehow missed that it was written by Sherwood.  I didn’t like this quite as much as 747, but it did have much of the same magic.

I watched the movie today and will compare the two in a few days, but if you only saw the movie I can’t stress enough that you should read the book.