Review: My Life as a Bench by Jaq Hazell

‘There are so many benches lining the riverside, each and every one tragic in its own way.’

Ren Miller has died aged seventeen and yet her consciousness lives on, inhabiting her memorial bench by the River Thames in London.

Ren longs to be reunited with her boyfriend Gabe, but soon discovers why he has failed to visit. Devastated, she must learn to break through and talk to the living so she can reveal the truth about her tragic end.

Unique, haunting, and compelling, this is a story about love, friendship, a passion for music and what, if anything, remains after we’ve gone.

I enjoyed this book, but I think I enjoyed the idea of this book more. The description really grabbed be – ghost’s tied to their memorial bench? What a glorious idea. Imagine what conversions they’d be privy too, what secrets they could overhear. a brilliant concept that I’ve not come across before

However the reality was a little disappointing. I found the beginning of the book a little repetitive and there were a lot of areas that the author could have explored with this concept but didn’t. In the end I felt like I was left with \ lot more questions than resolutions from this book.

What happened to Lionel? Did the truth of Ren’s death ever come out? How did her ghost become attached to the bench? Would she be able to ‘release’ herself eventually? What did she need to do to achieve that? Is being tied to a bench a sign of unfinished business, a sign of being unable to let go, a punishment?

The end of the book felt very rushed as well. So over all a speedy read that was enjoyable but not amazing and I felt let down by the initial promise of the book.