I just finished The Wake Up by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. It is not the kind of book I usually read. But then I usually read mysteries and romances, and the occasional biography. This book is a character driven novel about a man named Aiden who wakes up to the empathy that he had pushed down for most of his life. In fact, he was abused and such an empath that he became terribly damaged emotionally and so shut off all emotions. This interfered with his adult relationships. Aiden called the return of his overwhelming empathic feelings the wake up. He woke up to all the feelings he had pushed down and it changed his whole life.
He met and fell in love with a woman and then found out she had a young son, Milo, who had been abused. Milo's way of dealing with his emotions was to lash out and hurt others, including animals. It took a long time for Aiden to see the parallel to his own life.
The love and trust shown to Aiden as a child by his stepfather helped him to do the same for young Milo. The emotional journey between man and boy over two generations was a compelling story. It did not happen overnight and had ups and downs that rang true to life. The Wake Up was a satisfying and hopeful story that I really enjoyed.
