All That We Carried Book Review

 I don't know what drew me to All That We Carried by Erin Bartels to begin with but I decided that I wanted to read it.  By the time that it shows up at my house, I didn't remember anything about the book so I decided to start without having any background which is my favorite way to start a book. The cover hinted that it was fall weather with the leaves changing on the trees.  It was off to a quick but confusing start with two sisters and a little bit of a mystery which was answered quickly with information from their past. I was ready to find out what the book would bring even though I had read nothing by the author before.

Ten years ago, sisters Olivia and Melanie Greene were on a backcountry hiking trip when their parents were in a fatal car accident. Over the years, they grew apart, each coping with the loss in her own way. Olivia plunged herself into law school, work, and a materialist view of the world--what you see is what you get, and that's all you get. Melanie dropped out of college and developed an online life-coaching business around her cafeteria-style spirituality--a little of this, a little of that, whatever makes you happy.

Now, at Melanie's insistence (and against Olivia's better judgment), they are embarking on a hike in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In this remote wilderness they'll face their deepest fears, question their most dearly held beliefs, and begin to see that perhaps the best way to move forward is the one way they had never considered.

Michigan Notable Book Award winner Erin Bartels draws from personal experience hiking backcountry trails with her sister to bring you a story about the complexities of grief, faith, and sisterhood.

The sisters Olivia and Melanie Greene were very different people and had been separated for about 10 years.  Olivia spent that time at law school and working hard as a lawyer.  She spent a lot of her time busy and wanted to be productive.  Melanie dropped out of college and decided to be a life coach after getting over her difficult past.  She picked up different pieces of religion to form her spiritual basis for life.  They decided that they would go on a hike to try to get over the difficult past together.  Melanie decided on the idea but Olivia took over with her forceful nature.  They both have different ideas on how they want to do it and Olivia has everything planned to the minute while Melanie wants to feel all of the things and make sure not to miss a moment.  The beginning of the book sets you up to hope that both sisters influence each other so that they end up somewhere in the middle between to relaxed and too stressed.  Together they need to get over their shares past to move on but you have to pick up the book to find out if that happens and how.  Although I was entertained, it felt like it was a little slow going book that was harder for me to get into but many character development books are similar.  I hope that you check out this book and enjoy it for yourself.

**I received a copy of the book for my review but I was not required to provide a positive review.