Review: Wonders in the Waves by Jennifer Collins

Heartwrenching, honestly written, and challenging, Wonders in the Waves by Jennifer Collins is a novel about family, love, grief, and courage, and a compelling sequel to Comfort in the Wings. Striking a delicate balance between the intimacy of first-person narration, and the excitement of a rich plot full of relatable characters and twists, this multilayered book is at once intimate and page-turning.

Larissa is a 51-year-old mother that is at risk of getting lost in grief. Her sweet daughter Emma, 21, passed away less than a year prior, leaving a gaping hole in her life, and that of Emma’s brother Eric. Dealing with this traumatic event, Larissa persuades herself that it is time that she faces another overwhelming pain of her life – the time when she was forced to give up her first child Everett as a pregnant teenager.

With the loss of her little sister, Eric throws himself head to toe in the quest for his half-brother, especially since Larissa’s ex-husband Steven, who turned out to be Eric’s dad, has started bonding with him over this difficult situation. As Larissa, Eric, and Steven set off to find Everett, they begin to understand new things about themselves…

Accompanying the reader throughout the exhausting oscillation of pains and loss, the novel does an excellent job of giving each character a full-rounded personality, while never relying on stereotypes. Ex-husbands, lost children, adopted children, long-lasting friends, and other figures that are easy to pigeonhole in the wrong hands, are rendered by Collins with remarkable honesty and compassion. What stands out most is the degree of empathy Collins has for her characters, which is then transferred to the reader. Larissa’s most personal, contradictory, and painful thoughts are navigated with great respect, while keeping an eye on the measure of her delusions and the reality of her mental health. It is particularly interesting to witness Larissa’s journey of healing, not only through therapy, but also thanks to the people who support her in her daily life.

Although the book could benefit from a general tightening of the narration, it is the attention to detail that makes the novel feel so realistic and relevant. The reader is called to exert upon the book the same degree of attention as Larissa upon her life, looking for clues and signs not only with a rational mind, but also with the vast and sensible realm of fleeting impressions that are part of the way we experience life. Larissa’s connections with her past and her losses bring her a great deal of comfort, asking the reader to reflect on the very concept of bonding – in this life and beyond.

With a similar turbulence to the waves of the ocean that eddy and flow on high winds, Wonders in the Waves traces the past of a tormented, but courageous woman, whose generosity, in the end, becomes the cipher for her survival. A challengingly intimate novel, the writing is both sober and poetic in its exploration of the many bonds we form throughout life, resulting in a novel that is emotionally gripping and inspiring.