Paper Castles

For all the lighthearted banter, there comes a time when the reader feels the weight of emotion that James is dealing with as he attempts to reconcile his present with his past and future. He is a young man with grand aspirations and potential but is struggling to find his way to deal with personal loss and a crumbling economy and job market. At times, the emotions in the story were palpable, and I was moved to tears. Fox captures James’ feelings of embarrassment, resignation, sorrow, happiness, love, despair, and even self-loathing in such a raw and beautiful way. Perhaps we empathize with James because we have also felt one or more of these feelings at one point or another in our own lives.

While I immediately appreciated Paper Castles, the story stuck with me for days afterward, and I felt as if I had new revelations the more I thought about the book. For example, the themes of grief and mourning weave their way through the story, and I couldn’t help but think about how people deal with it all so differently. While James is undoubtedly the book’s focus, the reader cannot discount the critical roles his father and Karen serve in this discussion surrounding loss and grief. What defeats one person can make another person even stronger.