Book Review: The Gift

The Gift: A Novel
By Cecelia Ahern
Harper Collins
Publication Date: November 3, 2009
ISBN: 9780061706264

Oh Cecelia Ahern, we meet again. Since I have a weak spot for her, regardless of the fact that I didn't much enjoy her previous novel, I ordered this book the day it came out back in November. Due to school, I couldn't read it to now (which was actually appropriate considering it was holiday themed), and sadly...I wasn't impressed.

Lou Suffern loves work - so much that his family is just a nuisance, an inconvenience he has to deal with, even though he'd rather be making deals. He's constantly doing two things at once - holding a meeting and thinking about his night plans; talking to his wife and checking his blackberry, Lou's a great multi-tasker. One day, in a very rare generous moment, he gives a cup of coffee to a homeless man on the street. Gabe is extremely observant, a fast thinker, and reminds Lou a bit of himself. Due to the holiday spirit, or more so his desire to get a huge promotion, Lou gets Gabe a job at his firm and that's when things get a bit weird.

While Lou is figuratively in two places at once, Gabe really is. And while Gabe intrigues (and sometimes annoys) Lou, he also teaches Lou a few lessons he really needs to know, like how a family may be more important than money. He teaches Lou the importance of time, and how to make the most of it - and not in the way Lou has been. It's a story that shows how time, being in the moment and making the most of it, is the most precious gift of them all.

The Gift is...cute. Ahern was clearly trying to make a holiday classic with the book, emphasizing the moral of the story, but she does it in a very strange (and sometimes cheesy) way. The story itself is intriguing - gripping at times - but with no explanation. Lou is a typical character, one with no redeeming qualities until he learns "the lesson." The rest of the characters are typical as well - the forgotten wife, the competitive business partner, etc. And then there's Gabe, the homeless man who helps Lou. I wanted to like Gabe, I really did, but to me he was annoying - always hinting in weird and creepy ways, but never saying what he means. The "be in two places at once" part is important, definitely, but never explained and that bothered me. In the rest of her books, the fiction melded with the reality nicely, making the supernatural believable, however with this book there was too much real and not enough imaginary, so the unusual seemed out of place.

Like the rest of her books, it is well written, has a nicely told story, and does have a lovely moral, but I didn't feel anything, as I should have at the end. The book was overwhelmingly forgettable. I'll still read her next novel (which does look much better), but I won't get my hopes up. I really like Ahern - I just want to still love her books again.

Harper Collins site
The Gift's website