Review of IN EVERY MOMENT WE ARE STILL ALIVE

A prize-winning, bestselling debut of love, loss, and family—based on a true story—that’s winning readers around the world.

When Tom’s heavily pregnant girlfriend Karin is rushed to the hospital, doctors are able to save the baby. But they are helpless to save Karin from what turns out to be acute Leukemia. And in a cruel, fleeting moment Tom gains a daughter but loses his soul-mate. In Every Moment We Are Alive is the story of the year that changes everything, as Tom must reconcile the fury and pain of loss with the overwhelming responsibility of raising his daughter, Livia, alone.

By turns tragic and redemptive, meditative and breathless, achingly poignant and darkly funny, this autobiographical novel has been described as ’hypnotic’, ’impossible to resist’ and ’one of the most powerful books about grief ever written’. 

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Do you ever think about why an author writes a book? I did with this one. Maybe the authors' inspiration was by putting down on paper the heartbreaking and difficult situations that he had to deal with it would help him in getting past the hurt. Though, that assumption could be far from the truth. Consequently, this was a difficult book to read. In the beginning, the prose mainly focuses on Karin and the baby, then the confusion starts as the writing randomly jumps around. Let me explain. For instance, you will be reading about Tom and a pregnant Karin then the next sentence starts, without any sort of paragraph change or going to another chapter, the story time travels to the past when Tom is playing hockey. Why? It is like this throughout the book, therefore, making it highly confusing to read.

The bones of the story are good. The topic of the birth mother passing away and Tom has to go through her death with a preemie baby is engrossing. Hence, after Tom brings the baby home the reader receives minimal details of him interacting with the newborn which was disappointing. Basically, I learned how the Swedish Government works when you have a child and the stress that will entail if you don’t prepare beforehand for situations like a mother's death. My intention was not to give the book a negative review yet this is what flew out of my fingertips.

Tom Malmquist is a poet and sportswriter. He has written two highly acclaimed poetry collections. In Every Moment We Are Still Alive is his first novel. He lives in Sweden.