Eleven by Mark Watson - Book Review

Sometimes, a book finds you.
 

You go to a store and browse the shelves: Perhaps looking for a book by a specific author you enjoy or a book that you saw a great review on... not knowing what else could be lurking between the books you've set out to buy. 

Well, this book found me.

I picked it up completely by fluke. From the cover it wasn't something I'd normally give a second glance, (I know, I know.. you should never judge a book by its cover!) and from the back, although it sounded 'alright' I wouldn't have opted for it over the Nicholas Sparks novel I had in my other hand... but on the cover right at the top it read, 'If you loved One Day by David Nicholls, this is for you,' courtesy of Cosmopolitan. (Thanks Cosmo...)

One Day is my favorite novel to date.... so I had to get it.

The unique beauty about Eleven is the realisation that it never actually ends. 

From one simple act spirals tens of thousands of consequences that you will never even know about. 

The whole idea behind this book is so relative to how I have been feeling lately; delving into a deeper side of life. 

Everything happens for a reason and every person who comes into your life is sent as a guide from beyond; a messenger. 
Not all of those messages are good. 
A while ago I had a run in with a very difficult, miserable person. She pretty much ripped me apart, but maybe I was meant to get that wake-up call... no matter how uncalled for it was. 
Maybe there was something, somewhere in what she was saying that I needed to hear. 
Or maybe she needed to get some anger out and I was just the unlucky victim who got slayed in the process.
Maybe she went home and felt awful and learnt to not treat people that way any more.

What I am saying is that you learn something from everyone that you come across.

Every single person you meet stumbles into your life for a reason: 
The waitress that served you breakfast yesterday morning. 
The check-out girl in the super-market when you were buying the groceries. 
The bar-tender who poured you that measured out glass of much needed wine the other evening.... maybe all they or you needed was something as small as a smile. 
You never know when a gesture so small can go so far. 

That is the message that this book carries, as it tells a story about one decision that effects eleven lives that are inter-linked in even the slightest of ways.

Magical. 

I could not put it down.