The Days I Loved You Most: A Novel

“a sad story efficiently ­told by the author but one that may have been better had it been more vividly shown.”

Spanning the decades from 1940 to 2002 The Days I Loved You Most follows the lives of childhood friends Evelyn and Joseph. Evelyn and her brother Tommy live along the seashore in Connecticut next door to Joseph’s family, who run the quaint Oyster Shell Inn, built years earlier by Joseph’s grandfather. When World War II breaks out their idyllic young lives are changed forever when Tommy and Joseph enlist in the army. Joseph is wounded and returns to the Oyster Shell Inn and reunites with Evelyn, bringing with him the tragic news of Tommy’s death. Evelyn is devastated and moves away, but Joseph follows her and they eventually marry.

The book opens with Evelyn and Joseph telling their grown children that Evelyn has a terminal illness and both she and Joseph have decided to take their own lives the following year. Author Amy Neff writes the story with clarity, with each chapter written from different points of view as well as differing time frames. Evelyn and Joseph and their children Jane, Thomas, and Violet are the alternating voices speaking across the years.

Though well-crafted, The Days I Loved You Most seems very familiar, with nothing unique. While each chapter offers engaging flashbacks to moments in time none of the characters is memorable and their history does little to endear them to the reader. In fact, what we get feels somewhat like a defense of the characters—as to why they have grown into the people they are. With that said, there are also passages that nicely describe the family dynamic and sibling relations:

“Me, the rational one in the family? Mom and Dad are delusional, Thomas is sulking like a child, and don’t even get me started on Violet, the only human in existence that can romanticize everything but her own marriage. It’s maddening. She still reveres our parents like she’s a child and they’re the grown-ups, and she’s incapable of looking at any of their actions critically.”

The Days I Loved You Most is a quick read that will entertain readers of light fiction but will disappoint those looking for something deeper, though there are some lovely insights such as this, “I can’t sit near these pianos and feel lost too long. I am in the thousands of strokes of my fingers on the keys, as my spine lengthened and my feet grew to reach the pedals, my mother beside me, music the one place we could always meet.” A tender sentiment that conveys so much.

Throughout there are places in the novel where the dialogue feels forced in its attempt to be conversational. There are also moments where it borders on reading more like Young Adult fiction:

“Mom, god. I’m so sorry. I wish you told us . . . but I thought, isn’t Parkinson’s—like Michael J. Fox? The fully functioning, not at all dying actor?” Jane asks.

At times the verbal exchanges go on a bit too long, an example being five pages of dialogue between Evelyn and Joseph as they discuss their drug-using, estranged daughter Jane, as well as speculation that Evelyn once had an affair. While an interesting part of the backstory, it could have been less drawn out.

The Days I Loved You Most is a sad story efficiently ­told by the author but one that may have been better had it been more vividly shown.