Book Review: The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

The Gift

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Release Date: November 3rd, 2009

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 320

New York Times bestselling author Cecelia Ahern spins a witty, warm, and wise modern-day fable of love, regret, hope, and second chances.

Extremely successful executive, Lou Suffern is always overstretched, immune to the holiday spirit that delights everyone around him. The classic workaholic who never has a moment to spare, he is always multitasking while shortchanging his devoted wife and their adorable children. And ever since he started competing for a big promotion, he has barely seen his family at all.

One frigid morning in an uncharacteristic burst of generosity, he buys a cup of coffee for Gabe, a homeless man huddled outside his office building. Inspired by his own unexpected act of kindness, Lou decides to prolong his charitable streak and contrives to get Gabe a job in his company's mailroom. But when Gabe begins to meddle in Lou's life, the helping hand appears to be a serious mistake. Gabe seems to know more about Lou than Lou does about himself, and, perhaps more disturbingly, Gabe always seems to be in two places at once.

With Lou's personal and professional fates at important crossroads and Christmas looming, Gabe resorts to some unorthodox methods to show his stubborn patron what truly matters and how precious the gift of time is. But can he help him fix what's broken before it's too late?

This is the second of Cecelia Ahern's books I've read, and again she has impressed me, making me feel tons of different feelings while reading her book.

The Gift is a Christmas story with the intention of making us think about life. It all began with a police officer telling us a weird story...

Lou is a business man, always busy. Anything bothers him, specially if it isn't about work. But when he met Gabe, and started to listen to every one of his comments about his decisions, he began to feel, for the first time in years, guilty.

At first, I didn't like Lou at all (but I guess that's the idea). He doesn't want to be with his family. The less time he spend with them, the better. When they call, it's the secretary who talks to them. He even stays at work until late to not find his family awake. And he has even cheated his wife several times without feeling guilty.

But very slowly, things start to change. He always wanted to be the best, always forward, excellent at work...but his personal life is suffering because of that. Not only him, but everyone around him.

Gabe is a homeless man, that seems to do everything perfect (and to have a supernatural power). He can be at two places at the same time, and when the time comes, he can help Lou to do the same, with the condition that his family is first. With a little bit of magic, every one of Lou's problems (specially with his family) are going to resolve.

It's a story where Lou (and maybe yourself) is going to discover himself, realizing many mistakes that will disappoint you but make the story more real. It's not one of those story where everything is easy, but it gives you hope. For every problem there is a always a solution.

It seems impossible to think that you could forget what is really important in life, but it's actually very easy to confuse yourself. Life is never easy, but you have to enjoy every day you have. After all, you never know when it's going to be your time.

The ending was very unexpected, and believe me, you will cry. The message goes directly to your heart.

Overall, The Gift is a beautiful Christmas story written to make you reconsider your decisions about life.

More about this book at www.ceceliaahern.ie, Goodreads, Amazon, The Book Depository.