”A five-minute life” by Emma Scott

My rating: 5/5 stars

A lot of time has passed since I’ve written a review… Sincerely speaking I don’t know what took me so long, but I couldn’t find the proper one to write about. Well, now I have the perfect book for a review, a very special one which I am seriously thinking on buying as a paperback :)

“A five-minute life“ by Emma Scott is a delicious book, packed with every emotion existing in the emotional vocabulary… I have no words to describe the experience this was, the heartwarming but also heartbreaking 3 days in which this book was read. I love every minute of it, from the special plot, to the special characters.
Why special plot? The title tells us everything about it: after a tragic accident in which Thea looses her parents, she also lost her past and future… An extremely serious brain damage leads her to memory lost, and she is able to be aware only 5 minutes before resetting back into the same sequence of events. Practically, Thea lives in a 5 minutes loop from where there is no return, experiencing everything all over again and forgetting everything in the process. The plot is only the foundation, the characters being the ones that give life and color to the story.

As I mentioned, Thea is lost after her accident and apparently no one can help her. A very talented artist, with a bright future, she is living this way in a special institution for 2 years without having anyone to cling to, to have a little sparkle of hope that she might be able to surpass this. Before she was full of life, stubborn, with a very delicious sense of humor, now that personality is only shown for 5 minutes before having to live again and again.

Jim is the one who instantly noticed her and felt that he might be able to help. It was not only that Thea is beautiful, but for those 5 minutes that kept on resetting, Jim found that girl Thea was before the accident. Even with the actual knowing that she won’t remember him, he stood by her side and brought her back little by little. His devotion and perssistence were amazing and I admired him a lot for everything he did for her.

It is very difficult to explain exactly their relationship because it is not easy to describe it. Jim thought that only he was in love with Thea, because of her lack of memory. But noooo, he was extremely wrong. She felt everything, was extremely present and took everything from him. All their 5 minutes conversation were not forgotten, they were kept in her heart only to bloom in the right moment.

The book is basically now and after, written with such emotion that there were times I felt I couldn’t breathe because I wanted to read faster, to learn more about them. I loved Thea for her free spirit and love of life, but also Jim for his devotion and love. My heart broke for him because of his past, and I was sooo glad he found someone like Thea to show him a better future and a way to surpass his traumas, because they are a lot, physical and mentally as well. They found together a purpose and the journey was everything for me, because I couldn’t put the book down.

Please read this and I know you will find it as beautiful and heartwarming as I did :)