Sam Holmes is a young, enthusiastic school teacher living an uneventful, albeit pleasant life – even if he won't admit to himself how lonely he is. Dedicated to teaching, and inspired by the kids passing through his 8th grade history class, Sam is energized by the end of the school year. Now he has the time to dedicate himself fully to training for the historic New York City Marathon - his first.
But Sam's simple life is radically changed when his father suddenly passes away and the Last Will and Testament are read to him. Sam learns that his father's final wishes are unique, and as such special burden has been placed solely on Sam. To earn his inheritance, Sam's father is sending him on a quest; to travel to the places that had been significant and scatter his father's ashes at these destinations. Now, instead of a pleasant summer, Sam is thrust into a journey he neither wanted nor asked for.
While fulfilling is father's wishes Sam meets Rachel Parker, a young woman who brings direction, clarity, and companionship to Sam's lonely life. As he faces the struggles of a contract dispute at work, a budding romance, and running in his first marathon, Sam Holmes must make the critical decisions that will impact the rest of his life.
Paul Semendinger ☆ 6 Read
Paul Semendinger’s ‘Scattering the Ashes’ is the second book I’ve read during our COVID19 stay-at-home that deals with a protagonist fulfilling a loved one’s last requests. In this one, Sam is a 28 year old teacher who loves his vocation. He lives alone in his family home but yearns for a companion. His siblings live their own lives far away and his father is in a living-assisted facility. We meet him reminiscing on the year his father died, the turning point in his life.
It is through Sam’s eyes that we get snapshots of the people with whom he interacts and relive the events that move him from a self-absorbed solitary to a man who grows in understanding of abundance and love. Interestingly, one of the places that his father chose to have some of his ashes scattered is the Ramble - “a series of quiet paths, some seemingly going in circles, that make the walker forget he is even in a city”. It is, we are told, ‘a place for reflection and thought”. Reading this just a few days after the Christian Cooper/Amy Cooper incident in the Ramble meant the author allowed me to have another, and better, image of this “idyllic wilderness in the middle of Manhattan”.
I enjoyed reading Semendinger’s book (and the places to which he takes us) but feel it could have done with some tightening so that we don’t get too bogged down in Sam’s “thinking things through” (even his girlfriend accused him of that). My thanks to the author and Booktasters for a free copy in exchange for a fair review. Scattering the Ashes A wholesome read.
An unusual request in his father’s will sends Sam on a journey, both literally and figuratively. The goal is to scatter his father’s ashes at various significant locations. This is definitely a book I’d categorise as wholesome, and if religion is important in your life, all the better because it comes up throughout the book. ‘Scattering the Ashes’ is a sweet story about determining what is really important, although I felt it lost direction in the middle, especially when the protagonist went through a short phase that I personally found out-of-character and frustrating. Having said that, I enjoyed accompanying Sam to all the places he visited and I found the end well-rounded and satisfying. It was a story that, although not fast-paced, kept my interest and had, on the whole, believable, likeable and well-constructed characters. Overall, I would recommend this book.
Scattering the Ashes Thank you to Paul Semendinger and Booktasters for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review!
Given that this is an adult novel, I had expected Sam to be more mature than he actually was. In the beginning of the book, I found Sam kind of creepy and childish. I kept mentally yelling at him to just grow up. I’m happy to say that his character does develop throughout the book and he’s much better at the end.
Something that I appreciated about this book was the subplot dedicated to Sam’s work. As a professor, this particular storyline really resonated with me. I think a lot of educators tend to think only of themselves and forget about the students they claim to want to help and I'm happy that this book tackles this issue.
My favorite part of the novel, though, was reading the letters Sam’s father left for him. They were emotional and heartfelt and I feel like they would pull on anyones heart strings. I think most people would hope to have as strong as a relationship as Sam and his father had.
Read my full review here: https://jenjenreviews.wordpress.com/2... Scattering the Ashes Make The Days Count
This was a very heart warming, soul searching story. Sam is a teacher that is training to run a marathon. He also takes care of his aging father who soon passes away. In between his teaching, training and tragedy, he has to find time to grieve, learn how to love someone and run in a marathon, all at the same time. Can we say Superman is back lol.
The book is a long read but I enjoyed and appreciated that the chapters were short. I liked the crafty way the author wrote chapter 17, 18 & 29... by the way, if I may add, were my favorite chapters ☺️ and I found them very comical.
It was also a very enduring and heartfelt story. If you have recently lost a love one, get your tissues out. I don’t know if it was because we recently lost two family members to the coronavirus, or what. But I found it very hard to get through some of the chapters without crying, especially reading all of the letters from Sams father. Not to give to much away but, what a wonderful way to reflect, heal, grieve all at once and a perfect idea for a time share.
I appreciate the storyline, although it was long... every bit of it was a joyful read and happy ending. Sorry readers, I had to share a little spoilers. If anyone needs a good book to read to pass time, laugh, cry and just enjoy it. Pick up “Scattering The Ashes,” you won’t regret it. Scattering the Ashes Fantastic Story
For me, giving a 5-star rating is rare. Scattering the Ashes, however, is certainly deserving of an outstanding score. If you are a runner, you will love this book. I am certainly not a runner. If you are a teacher, you will love this book. I am a retired teacher. But the reason I loved this story was the gritty, honest, sometimes flawed main character and his personal growth as he grapples with the bizarre requirements he has to fulfill before inheriting his father's estate. I laughed and I cried -- a perfect response to a really good story. Read it; I think you'll love it, too.
Scattering the Ashes
Scattering the Ashes by Paul Semendinger is an easy read about family especially father son relationship. After the death of his father, Sam is given letters written by his late father by his father's attorney; to scatter his ashes in places special to them both and has to go on series of excursions to fulfill the wishes though not compulsory. Initially Sam is reluctant and resentful of the burden placed om him and his other two siblings, still he reluctantly agrees and goes on a life changing journey that brings him closer to his father and also finds his future wife and is more at peace with his self and is clear about his goals in life. As an Indian, I can understand the urge to fulfill loved one's last wishes as it is considered our sacred duty to do so.
This books takes you on a beautiful warm journey that brings a glow to your heart.
Thanks @BookTasters for this book Scattering the Ashes As the name of the book suggests, this book is about the journey of our main protagonist, Sam to scatter the ashes of his father, in order to fulfill his last wish.
Sam is a school teacher and would be living alone. He is also a runner. He keeps meeting his father every weekend and is really close to him. After his father's death, Sam has to complete a rather strange wish of his father, before he can claim his inheritance. He would be handed over a set of letters and asked to scatter his father's wishes at chosen places. Now instead of spending a pleasant and long summer all alone at his house, Sam is forced to embark on a new journey, where he has to visit those places which have real significance in their life (to both father and son) and fulfill his father's last wishes.
Sam grows up along this novel from a lonely, self-obsessed school teacher to a family man (yes, he falls in love too) to a marathoner and embraces the world with all the humility and goodness this travel teaches him. Sam's transition is the first part that I liked in this book.
The second part is the series of letters, each one though short in nature contains deep inner meanings and captures the love between father and son very beautifully. Reading letter after letter made me wish to receive such letters one day. The last letter is the high-light which I read it multiple times.
Rachel (the love interest of Sam) is also another strong lady, who provides a sense of direction to Sam, apart from his father's letters. I also loved the Rachel has been projected in the novel both her positive and negative sides.
Last but not least, the way Sam has been portrayed in this book shows that all is not really well with the world. But eventually, we humans evolve from our own mistakes, and too much thinking always hinders us.
Thanks to Booktasters for providing me this book for an honest review. This book highlights the father and son relationship and takes it to the next level. I would recommend this book for an easy read for anyone.
Scattering the Ashes First, I’m going to admit it took me a really long time to finish this book. Not because I didn’t like it (I actually did enjoy it quite a bit), but because it is told from the first-person perspective and I have trouble immersing myself in those books because my brain hates me apparently. (There’s even a clause in my paid review page that I will not review first-person point of view books for money because of this.) Luckily, “Scattering the Ashes” is a wonderful book.
I immediately identified with Sam, the main character, as he is a runner. I like to run also (not well or fast), and his descriptions of running and runners (at least some of us) are pretty spot-on. The character is fun and quirky and full of spunky ideals. I liked Sam and he is an easy character to empathize with throughout most of the story. But since we are in his head, we get to know when he’s being a jerk even if he does not. Those parts of the story were frustrating and luckily did not last that long.
This confession will probably make me sound like a flake (Guilty, I’m a flake. I don’t just sound like one.), but I didn’t read the entire synopsis when I got the book, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a love story. Like a wholesome, no naughtiness, love story. Complete with a meet-cute and the insecure and desperately lonely Sam’s internal monologue of how to not mess up this fortuitous event and somehow make a good impression of the woman he has managed to meet.
Sam’s father is alive at the beginning of the book, and he becomes such a vivid character and intrinsic part of the story that by the time he dies, I was heavily invested. I forgot he was supposed to die and that the story was about scattering his ashes. It was a sucker punch in the gut and the book actually made me cry. Heck, telling my mom about the story over the phone made her misty-eyed and a little sniffly. (And yes, I had to stop reading to call my parents and just enjoy talking to them since this book makes readers think about how little time, we all have.)
While I adored Rachael, the love interest, as she is described, she was almost not as real as Sam’s father to me. Overall, it is a good read. If you love sweet romances and stories that remind you about falling in love and appreciating the joy in your, this is a great book to read.
Scattering the Ashes (Actual rating 3.5 stars)
Spreading the Ashes was an introspective read focusing on themes many of us can relate to including loss, love, and perseverance.
Sam is a teacher and runner striving to deal with the loss of his father, his budding love life, his teaching career, and his goal of running a marathon.
To be completely honest, I didn’t love Sam as a character. He was pompous and selfish at times, and his view of the world was a bit too grandiose for me, but I found myself wanting to know more of his story anyway. His imperfections made him a believable character, if not a likable one for me.
My favorite character in fact was Sam’s father, who passed a few chapters into the story. I loved how he was written though. His love for his son mixed with his down to earth personality had me looking forward to every small appearance he made in Sam’s memories and his letters.
I loved reading about Sam’s journey to spread his father’s ashes. That was my favorite theme of the book. I found myself bored at time when the plot shifted to Sam’s running and eventually his romantic partner, but the prevalent theme of the story was focusing on his father’s death and saying his goodbyes to him and that was the plot point that kept me reading.
Although it felt messy and almost too much at times, I did enjoy Spreading the Ashes. The author obviously put tons of work into this book and I appreciate their effort and all the tiny quirks and facts they included. I wish the plot had been a bit more refined and focused mostly on Sam and his father instead of having so many side stories but overall it was a good read.
*I was given a free copy of this book from Booktasters and this is my honest, voluntary review.* Scattering the Ashes I really enjoyed this book - it turned out to be a page-turner, very hard to put down!
As the title of the book hints, part of the story revolves around Sam's task of scattering his late father's ashes. We meet his dad briefly at the start of the story, in the nursing home where he lives, to which Sam runs regularly from his own home as part of training to run his first marathon. However, we get to know his dad even more after his death, due to the unusual instructions he has left for Sam regarding the scattering of his ashes, and the trips Sam makes down memory lane as he works to fulfil his dad's wishes.
Sam is a young man of 28, still living in his family home. In addition to his Dad, and running, he loves baseball and his teaching job. He is single, although apparently not by choice. Whenever he notices an attractive young woman, he daydreams that something might come of it (if only he would speak to her). On one part of his journey to fulfil his late dad's wishes, he does meet (and talk to!) a young woman, and things begin to develop.
All the threads of this story kept me entwined and entranced with it: Sam's ashes-scattering quest; his budding romance with Rachel; his teaching job and the things that happen there; and his marathon training. At times Sam seems a bit immature and self-focused, but we do also watch him learn and grow (after a few notable setbacks).
There were a few minor quirks in the writing that struck me as odd or awkward - for example, most of the time whenever Sam buys anything, he says he purchased it, whereas I just felt like bought would have been a more natural-sounding term to use. I also began to wonder if this book was in the genre of Christian fiction, due to the mostly chaste state of affairs (although twice he seems to *almost* be about to wind up in bed with another girl), Sam's tendency to pray (often aloud), his best friend being a man of the cloth, and to Rachel's declaration (rather late in the piece, I thought) that she wants to wait until she is married to have sex. Not that there is anything wrong with Christian fiction, and I have in fact read and enjoyed a couple of other novels in that genre (albeit accidentally).
Primarily, I couldn't put this book down. I read it in just 5 days, super fast for me. I was always fascinated to find out how each thread of the story would go - what would happen next?
Overall this is beautifully written, and the threads culminate in a well put-together tapestry that I think leaves the reader satisfied. Scattering the Ashes
