"The Rising"

When I read the description for "The Rising", by Ryan D'Agostino, I thought that this would be a sad yet motivational book. I guess I can give the author points for at least getting the sad part right. This book is about Bill Petit and the tragedy that befell his family.

When I say 'tragedy' I mean it in the sincerest way. Two men broke in to the Petit's home, beat Bill to within less than an inch of his life, and set his house on fire with his wife and two daughters tied up inside. It does not get more tragic than that. This event only actually takes up a handful of pages out of the whole book though. The book can be broken down like this: the beginning introduces the reader to each of the family members. Letting the reader learn what each daughter was like and how amazing the mom was. Then the break-in happens. There are a few really good chapters after the break-in that go over the funeral and what life was like for Bill immediately after losing his family. The last half of the book is a waste of time.

I picked this book not because I wanted to read a sad story and learn about how awful things were, but because I wanted something that would ultimately uplift me and give me hope. I wanted to learn how Bill was able to come back to normal life after going through such an awful event. I wanted something that would inspire me to rise above my own trials and come out on top. "The Rising" provided none of those things.

I felt like the author left out a lot to the story and included details to things that were insignificant or completely pointless. I didn't want to read two whole pages on the defense lawyer. All-in-all this book was slow and very hard to get through. I kept putting it down and telling my husband how much I wished I was doing something else. 2 out of 5 stars. If you want to learn about Bill Petit, google him, don't waste your time with this book.

I received my copy of "The Rising" from Blogging for Books for this review. For more information, or a second opinion, click here.