Book review: The Scenic Route

Book cover for The Scenic Route by Christina Baker Kline

My typical reading routine involves reading a short story between titles on my reading list. Sometimes the story will come from a collection, such as Stories of Your Life and Others (Ted Chiang) or Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick. Other times, interesting stand-alone titles appear.

Such was the case with The Scenic Route by Christina Baker Kline. An email from Amazon alerted me that it was available for free as an Amazon Original. Since I had really enjoyed Kline’s Orphan Train, it was an easy decision to make this one of my short story readings.

The Scenic Route is different from my typical reading genres, which mostly revolve around science fiction. It’s an interesting look at how someone’s life can be upended by an unfortunate series of events, and how that same life can get back on track through a fortuitous series of events. The key message I took away from the book is that no matter what happens in life, we need to keep trying, to keep on the path, to keep working to understand our self and discover who we are, and at the end of the day, things will work out the way they are supposed to.

Overall, the books is well written, tells a good story, contains relatable characters, and conveys a positive, uplifting message when read start-to-finish, which can be done in one sitting under an hour. While the tone of the book does not necessarily involve fun, I’m putting it in my Fun Reads category, which are those books that make for great reading when you’re looking for a good book to pass the time.

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