Goalie

by ME Carter

The was a sensitive cruelty to this story, not that the story itself was cruel no, not at all it is the circumstances that the characters in the story find themselves embroiled in that is cruel. It is knee deep in a reality that many author shy away from, and it handled not only the infidelity but the ensuing aftermath with a masterful sense of honesty and acceptability.

I am far from crazy about books that involve infidelity , I think I just find it a little too close to the bone, there is often too much angst and attitude for me BUT I salute ME Carter for a story that while it has all manner of emotions from start to finish, she let her characters shine, she allowed them tell their story, warts and all and that gave it a sense of realism that is almost impossible to fathom.

It was easy to blame Santos, to despise what he did and to at least sympathise if not actually empathise with Mariana for the pain that she was feeling but this was a far from straight forward connection because while Santos is left facing the fact that not only his wife but his kids are gone, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him and that made me a little uncomfortable, on one hand I wanted to stick my hands through the screen of my kindle and wring his neck but on the other I wanted to sit him down tell him to get his head out of his a** and show his family what they mean to him…I only hoped that he could and that Mariana was at least willing to meet him half way.

He had everything he could have every wanted right up until the minute he woke up to find that he was alone, then he was facing a future without the people who kept his heart beating and that was a fate that was difficult to face up too.

Mariana, knew exactly what sort of guy her husband was, they had been together from years and married for over a decade but she had reached the end of her tether and with three children to care for she knew that the four of them deserved better from the man that was supposed to love and protect them than they were getting, Santos had a lesson to learn and Mariana was now ready to ensure that he faced the music, she was strong enough to step away from what they had and in doing so dealt a wakeup call to the man that still loves but isn’t sure that she can ever forgive.

Goalie, is a sad indictment of modern life, it encompasses the pain that cheating brings on all of those involved and especially on the innocent parties, it highlights the pain and attitude that that pain inflicts on both sides but it also keeps it feet firmly planted on the connection between Santos and Mariana and the loneliness that they both felt  and the effort that they had to put into re-building a relationship, it was never going to be what it had been before but they had the opportunity to reset their situation, to forge a new path…the question was could they?

A truly heart wrenching story that left me more than a little teary eyed and thankful for the love of a good man.