The Well: What Happens When The Mind Releases But The Heart Sustains by Colleen Golden is the story of a woman who has been in a coma for more than two years, and her desperate struggle to communicate with her loved ones and the frustration that comes with that struggle. Imagine having the ability to hear your loved ones talk to you and feel their pain as they beg you to wake up and come back to them, but despite your best efforts you are unable to communicate with them. That is the state Grace found herself in after her brain shut down and put her in a coma, leaving her no option but to create her own magical world. Grace finds herself stuck between two places and struggling to get back to her loved ones, but it remains to be seen if her willpower can bring her body back to life or if she will finally give in and cross over.

The Well is a saddening tale of the struggles of a woman in a coma, whose mind wanders away from her body in a desperate attempt to reconnect with her people. It is a touching story about the emotional chaos, loneliness, and frustration that Grace had to endure while stuck between two worlds. The way the book is written, with each chapter focusing on a different person who was important in her life, makes reading each chapter feel like a different adventure into the life of Grace. This makes reading the book more exciting as you move from one chapter to another. It is an emotional story that actually made me think long and hard about what goes on in the mind of someone in a coma.

Colleen Golden’s novel The Well: What Happens When the Mind Releases but the Heart Sustains? is the story of a seventy-six-year-old woman who is in a coma for more than two years. Now committed to a nursing home bed, Grace used to be a doting mother, loving wife, caring friend, and is probably the best home baker in town. In what seems like a dream, she hears her mother singing an old hymn. Following the sound, she passes through a portal and into a world that is both recognizable and mysterious. In her kitchen, in the world she calls the Possibilities, Grace discovers that by baking their likenesses, she can create the things, places, and the people she wants. And instead of getting older, she finds herself going back to the prime of her life. Through a well, she hears her devoted family discussing the possibility of taking her off her life support system, but she cannot reach them. Will she be able to return to the life she left behind through this well?

A unique story, Colleen Golden’s novel brings us to the peculiar world of a woman in a comatose state. Indeed, a lot of people wonder what goes on in the head of someone who is in this state. We do not know for sure if comatose persons are aware of the things going on around them and if they would prefer to switch off their life support system if they have their way. This is an unknown world that may seem quite scary to many. And what makes this novel reassuring is that Grace actually finds herself in an interesting place where she can create her own world, choose who she wants to be with, and actually become one with them in thought. This world of possibilities is certainly not scary, it could even be fun. As her family watches her physically wasting away, in her heart she is actually having the time of her life, except that her family has no way of knowing what she is going through. Written in the first person perspective, this is a vivid novel that can change the way we look at life and death as we listen to Grace narrate her amazing experience from her sick bed.

In The Well: What Happens When the Mind Releases but the Heart Sustains, Colleen Golden gets into a fictionalized version of what a lot of families deal with. Grace is strong. She's seen her family through the ins and outs of the 1900s. She's seen the bombs drop at Hiroshima, and seen newly installed electricity and plumbing. She's raised babies, and bees, and vegetables, and now she's losing herself. Time bends and we're not sure what's real or where in the world Grace finds herself, but it's a fascinating journey that is heartfelt, intelligent, and very sophisticated.

Such a fascinating concept. It's kind of like a cross between time traveling and some kind of bizarre Benjamin Button. For the first few chapters, you aren't altogether sure what is happening. You piece together facts about the character in little bits, fits, and starts, and then slowly a story, a life, and a journey unfolds. Golden paints an intelligent, yet bewildering picture of aging life, and then what happens when the mind lets go. She answers some of the questions that are posed today. What happens to the people whose minds are gone, yet bodies remain. Where are they? What are they thinking? Are they still the person they once were, only unable to talk about it. This is one of those books that you think one thing is going on, but you could be completely wrong at the same time. Overall, a very wonderful, sometimes bittersweet, but enjoyable read.

The Well: What Happens When the Mind Releases but the Heart Sustains? by Colleen Golden follows the story of a woman named Grace, who has fallen into a coma. While the rest of her family worries over her, Grace finds herself in a sort of limbo where she can create a world of her own just by molding dough and singing. At first she's baffled and entertained by her new world; however, as time passes she begins to grow concerned over her family and wants nothing more than to wake up from her coma. Each chapter shows Grace going through trials while she's in a coma.

The Well was an interesting story that talked a lot about Grace's life and her family. While she's in her coma, she lives in a world of her own creation. For someone who has lost several family members in a short time, the book really spoke to me. However, the messages in the story can be relatable to anyone. The book had some humor as Grace reminisces on her life and explores her new one; it also has drama as Grace tries to help her living family members as a 'guardian angel.'

As Grace is at her final crossroads in life, her perspective about a lot of things changes throughout the book. Though the beginning of the book was a bit slow, the ending was insightful and tied the whole story together well. While Grace watches over her family members, everyone goes through a sort of struggle and each one is able to overcome it. The book sends a positive message about persevering and being at peace with death. I recommend this book to anyone who needs a little inspiration in their life, or who is just looking for a good read.