Title: The Emma Effect
Author: Gordon Bocher
Publisher: Newman Springs
ISBN: 978-1638814351
Pages: 172
Genre: Romance, Drama
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Pacific Book Review
The Emma Effect is a heartfelt and stirring novel written by Gordon Bocher. The story follows Mitch, whose parents died in a tragic car accident when he was six years old and was taken in by his great-aunt who raised him as his own. This pediatric grief weighed in on him as a young child. Luckily, Helen, his great-aunt, did her best to raise him into an emotionally stable young man who after high school, bags a prestigious scholarship to Widmarch College, where he plays center midfielder on the school’s soccer team.
In his senior year at college, Mitch is psychologically manipulated by his then-fiancée and her friend who subject him to a distasteful sexual experience which leaves him traumatized and wounded for years. This internalized abuse slips through into his mental health and general well-being and he abruptly leaves college to join MCI (Mining Consortium International), a position that sends him to Afghanistan to source suitable sites for mining ore.
It is also through this role that he meets the quiet and pensive Emma, an administrative assistant working at the company who he falls in love with. Emma had a transcendent calming and comforting effect around her and would consequently play a crucial role in Mitch’s healing. With the help of an in-house therapist as well, Mitch confronts his troubled past and the unfortunate experience that scarred his life.
Gordon Bocher’s book is not merely a simple narrative of pure escapist entertainment but something more challenging and potentially eye-opening to the reality of abuse in men, the trauma it causes, and possible solutions or pathways to healing. The writer presents readers with plausible-hewn characters that bring into sharp focus the complex themes which the writer intends to discuss. The narrative aptly carves out the landscapes and terrain around various locations immersing us in a rich world of detail and candor. This unequivocally results in sophisticated text that says volumes with just a few lucid words.
The Emma Effect is a novel with a startlingly staying power from an author worth listening to. Its plot arc amplifies the voice of the voiceless and is an altogether moving text that readers will mine many nuances.
