If You Could See Me Now by Cecilia Ahern

Cecelia Ahern is the bestselling author of P.S. I Love You. I have not read P.S. I Love You but I have watched the movie countless of times and each time, I would cry buckets. The first book that I read from Cecelia Ahern is Rosie Dunne (later published as Love, Rosie and subsequently published as Where Rainbow Ends) which I read in 2006. I thought it was a very creative book especially the way it was written. I shall share Rosie Dunne with you some other time. Today belongs to If You Could See Me Now.

The version I got was from Hyperion International Edition. It took me a long time as the fonts are real small.

The synopsis :

Everything in Elizabeth Egan’s life has its place. Order and precision keep life under control and keep Elizabeth’s heart safe from the pain she has suffered in the past. Being a mother to her 6 years old nephew leaves little room for error until one day, when Ivan comes into their lives. He is everything that Elizabeth is not – carefree and adventurous. And just when Elizabeth is starting to trust him, it turns out that Ivan isn’t all who she thought he was.

With that, the story of Elizabeth and Ivan begins. It was revealed in Chapter 3 that you can’t actually see Ivan. At that point, I was wondering if this is a ghost story but it would not be the gene of Cecelia Ahern if it is! Unless it’s a romantic ghost story like what Danielle Steel did once with The Ghost. Ivan started off as a friend of Luke and subsequently Elizabeth’s. An friend who loves pizza, and olives and Fridays among others. And Ivan came to both Luke and Elizabeth because they needed him. For you see, Ivan’s an 'imaginary friend' from the lane of Ekam Eveileb where there's a group of 'friends' with various job functions. While Luke is aware of that, Elizabeth is not. She can see him and actually thought that Ivan’s as real as you and me and mistakenly thought that he is the father of one of Luke’s friend.

Talk about denial. Elizabeth’s been in denial all her life. She’s at denial about how her mother has gone on an adventure when she (mother) left home leaving behind a husband, young Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s baby sister, Saoirse. Elizabeth’s in denial about Saoirse as well - she just couldn’t accept that her sister is an alcoholic and that she left Luke the way their mother left them. Elizabeth’s father is in denial all his life and waits for his who that will never return and missed out on the two girls who needed him. I guess you can say that that’s the theme of the story. It’s also about friendship and the fact that Elizabeth can see Ivan when it’s supposed to be only children who can see him shows that Elizabeth never really grew up and she needs to do that in order to live her life the way she should, letting go of the past and living life for now.

But at certain point in the book, I would question...is Ivan real? Can he be with Elizabeth for the rest of her life? Is it possible? He is after all from the land of Ekam Eveileb, a land that we are familiar with :)

I don’t really like Elizabeth but Ivan stolen my heart right from the start. Here’s what he said to Elizabeth at one point and I can read this over and over again.

“Life is made up of meeting and partings. People come into your life every day, you say good morning, you say good evening, some stay for a few minutes, some stay for a few months, some a year, others a whole lifetime. No matter who it is, you meet and then you part. I’m so glad to meet you and I thank my lucky stars for that. I think I wished for you all of my life but now, it’s time for us to part”.

It was stated at the back cover of the book that the film rights to If You Can See Me Now have been bought by Walt Disney Pictures. I also discovered from imdb that Hugh Jackman has been cast for the role of Ivan in the 2011 movie release. Now, that’s something to look forward to.
Cecelia, the daughter of Ireland’s Prime Minister is so talented and so pretty too. I’ve enjoyed her books tremendously and I am looking forward to adding more of her works to my collections.