Grief and Loss

From the opening of the novel to the end, Shelby Van Pelt explores the impact of loss on the human psyche and associates it with the concomitant emotion of loss. Through skillful character development, the theme of suffering through loss is established as universal to the human experience, creating a storyline that is as instructive as it emotionally connective. Loss and grief are emotions that overtake a person’s mind and body, numbing them to the present moment, and causing them to live in a compartment of their own suffering. At the outset of the novel, Tova is working her nightshift at the aquarium and is constantly thinking of her deceased son Erik, who died 30 years earlier. “On Tova’s mantel at home, there’s a photo of Erik, perhaps eleven or twelve at the time, grinning wildly as he straddles the statue’s...