A Song for Issy Bradley Carys Bray

3 Star

The Bradleys see the world as a place where miracles are possible, and where nothing is more important than family. This is their story.

It is the story of Ian Bradley—husband, father, math teacher, and Mormon bishop—and his unshakeable belief that everything will turn out all right if he can only endure to the end, like the pioneers did. It is the story of his wife, Claire, her lonely wait for a sign from God, and her desperate need for life to pause while she comes to terms with tragedy.

And it is the story of their children: sixteen-year-old Zippy, experiencing the throes of first love; cynical fourteen-year-old Al, who would rather play soccer than read the Book of Mormon; and seven-year-old Jacob, whose faith is bigger than a mustard seed—probably bigger than a toffee candy, he thinks—and which he’s planning to use to mend his broken family with a miracle.

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Sabrina-Kate - 3 Star

After reading this book, I could not figure out exactly why the title was chosen. Which bothered me. A lot. Although Issy Bradley was one of the characters of the story, the story did not entirely focus on her nor did it explain what a song for Issy Bradley even really meant.

The story did have its merits and the characters were fairly interesting however I kept waiting for something more to happen and sadly nothing ever really did. I understand that it is a story about a family grieving and trying to muddle their way through that but it also seemed to just plod along without much really happening.

The part of the book that I found interesting was the Mormon aspect of it. I liked that I came to understand this religion a little bit more and even some of the misconceptions were cleared up by the author like how Mormons are sometimes confused with Jehovah's Witnesses. This is a religion that I definitely don't know much about but that I find interesting in its own way. It was also interesting to see an English family being Mormon as I had never considered that they existed outside of North America.

This story did have its moments but I was sadly disappointed though I am not quite sure where I expected it to go. I just expected it to go somewhere, anywhere from where it started off really.

Thank you to Ballantine Books for our review copy.  All opinions are our own.

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