i finished reading cecelia ahern's a place called here & i have to say, its certainly different from her other novels like where rainbow ends, and p.s i love you. This book has a bit of mystery inside and its talking about something which is not literal. The feeling of being lost, losing things, the answers you're seeking, etc.

while i can't say that i love it more than p.s i love you, i have to say its quite engrossing. there was like 2 or 3 stories unfolding concurrently, so they will jump from one story to another, from sandy getting lost to jack's search for his brother, to sandy's memories. But they all have a link so its not easy to get confused and this makes it more interesting, except for the fact that.. it always jump to another story at the most exciting and mysterious part! then i'll have this urge to jump over 1 story to continue the story but i can't! because, i'm not the kind of ppl to skip parts of a story. i wan to read it in its full glory, every pg, every paragraph.

you noe how sum ppl cheat and turn to the back to find out the ending, the killer or smth? i absolutely can't do that even though i might b aching to find out who did what. cos it won't be fun to read a bk in dat case! sho i'll jus speed up my reading. unfortunately, when i sped up, i'll miss sum sentences. which is fine until the end, the character might speak of this scene or this dialouge they say & i have no recollection of it happening~!

c, that's what happens to ppl who are impatient. LOL.

but i tot this novel was pretty full of meaning. like the part where sandy heard some laughters, caught the aroma of cookies baking and somebody's perfume, helen told her that these were ppl's lost memory. Much as we like to hold on to our memory, its impossible. it will jus slipped away from us and we jus lost them unknowingly. can you still remember the smell of your passed-away grandfather? the memory of your childhood playtimes with your mommy or daddy? the look of your kindergarden or nusery best friend? have you wondered where they all gone?, why you can't rmb or recalled them no matter what?

in this novel, the lost memories, the lost innocent & carefree smiles, the aroma of a childhood blanket, they all gone to a place called Here. That's where the missing people goes too. I guess its really more encouraging and optimistic to think of your missing child / sibling/ friends in the place called Here, instead of wandering around, suffering.

sometimes, when things goes missing or becomes lost, they will never come back again. like feelings for something or somebody. like opportunities. i guess its part of what the novel is trying to convey. actually what the novel is trying to convey is pretty simple and typical, cherish your memories, people, things before they are lost.

In the novel, all the missing things and people will reach Here, but they will never ever get the chance to return to their original life. Maybe with the exception of Sandy. i don't know, i dun want to spoil the ending for ppl who's reading it! xD

but the author uses a more fairytale and mystical way of presenting that simple message. in the novel, all the people are searching. searching for a way out, searching for answers, searching for their identity, searching for information and memories. nobody wants to stop until they founf them but after finding, it brings about another round of searching for some other things.

when i read the novel, i was like, stop searching! accept what you have and cherish it! y are you throwing all the things away for something you will probably never find? or even after finding, won't be satisfied? but aren't all of us searching for something? I guess sometimes, we need to search, to find our answers. but maybe, while we are searching, we can & shld stop and cherish the things around us.

the search never stops. but so shldn't the need to cherish the people, the things, the memories we have around us. because, one day, we might end up searching for them instead. and when that day comes, we'll regret why we didn't treasure them in the first place.