Coming Back - David Hill
This is the second book by David Hill that I have read, and like No Safe Harbour, this book also focuses around a single event and its aftermath. However, whereas Harbour focussed on the historical sinking of the Wahine, Coming Back focuses on a much smaller-scale, though still life-altering event, a teenager getting hit by a car.
Tara is running home from her job working at a fish n chip shop and, slightly distracted and stumbling as she crosses the road, is struck by a car driven by Ryan, a driver on his restricted licence who has been illegally carrying passengers and had also been distracted at the wrong moment. Ryan stops to help, and Tara is rushed off to hospital where she begins a fight for her life.
The perspectives shift back and forth between Ryan and Tara, although much of Tara's perspective is whilst still unconscious and trying to understand what has happened to her. The book does a good job of keeping us uncertain as to whether Tara will survive or not, and also what her prognosis will be should she do so. Sections of the book also are written as a medical report on Tara's status, and in those moments the reader is given a lot of information about the seriousness of brain injuries and various methods used to aid recovery.
Aside from Tara's journey, the main focus of the book is on Ryan and the way he seeks to atone for his mistake. His friends Ash and Vince, both of whom were in the car when the accident happened, deal with the accident in their own ways as well, creating a bit of conflict, especially when Ash begins befriending Mel and Brittany, friends of Tara, and Ryan falls into the firing line of these understandably upset girls. As the story progresses a possible romantic subplot begins to emerge as well, and this is weaved in fairly naturally, whilst not being afraid to ask questions about whether certain relationships could (or should) work.
A fairly short book (160 pages), Coming Back doesn't outstay its welcome, although whether I would use a book about a single major incident for a class study is still something I am unsure about. An interesting enough diversion for an afternoon or two.
Completed 17 June 2022.
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