If you could see me now by Cecelia Ahern

I've finished the book finally. The main character, 34 yr old single Elizabeth is responsible for bringing up her irresponsible sister's 6yr old son, Luke. Luke develops a friendship with a make-belief friend, Ivan whom Elizabeth cannot see at first. Somehow or other, Ivan becomes visible to Elizabeth who appears to suffer from OCD, Insomnia and the trauma of a broken home (her mother is an alcoholic who abandons the family after giving them hopes and dreams). Elizabeth mistakenly believes that Ivan is Luke's friend, Sam's father. Ivan and Elizabeth fall in love after spending time together and Ivan is about to declare his permanent love for her when his mentor, Opal brings him to his sense. She leads him to the house of a man who is now eighty and pining for her (he stopped seeing her after 20 years). Make-belief friends don't get old. Ivan makes a decision then to leave Elizabeth because he doesn't want her to be a lonely old woman growing old pining for him. However, just by his touching her life, she is no longer the same woman she was before she met him and dares to reach out for a new life.

The Slog Reviews: 7/10. I'm a jaded slog afterall and this book is too happy-ever-after for my liking :)

Parts of the book I liked

1) (Ivan) "There's no sense of fun with them (adults). They stick rigidly to schedules and time, they focus on the most unimportant things imaginable, like mortgages and bank statements, when everyione knows that the majority of the time it's the people around them that put the smiles on their faces...People forget they have options. And they forget that those things really don't matter. They should concentrate on what they have and not what they don't have. "

2) (Ivan) "The most important thing is not what we (as a friend) look like but the role we play in our best friend's life. Friends choose certain friends because that's the kind of company they are looking for at that specific time, not the correct height, age or have the right hair color."

3) (Ivan) "Life's kind of like a painting. A really bizarre abstract painting. You could look at it and think that all it is is a blur...but if you really look at it, focus on it and use your imagination, life can become so much more. That painting could be of the sea, the sky, people...or anything except the blur you were once convinced it was.

4) (Ivan) "Don't ever take for granted when people look in your eyes - you've no idea how lucky you are. Actually, forget about luck, you've no idea how important it is to be acknowledged, even with an angry glare. It's when they ignore you, when they look right through you, that you should start worrying.

5) (Ivan) "But as for your heart, when that breaks, it's completely silent. You would think it's so important it would make the loudest noise in the world...But it's silent and you almost wish there was a noise to distract you from the pain."

6) (Ivan) "Life is made up of meetings and partings. People come into your life everday...some stay a few minutes, some stay for a few months, some a year, others a whole lifetime. No matter who it is, you meet and then you part. I'm so glad I met you...I think I wished for you all of my life but now it's time for us to part."