I recently finished an Audio Book called The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. What a Heart Warming Book it has been! It's a fictional story which revolves around the Life of Linus Baker who happens to discover another life of magical beings on an Island & realises the Real Meaning of Home. The following has been my learnings from this marvellous book:
Home is not a place but a feeling
As cliche as it may sound, but the real meaning of Home is the feeling it exudes in You. The lead character Linus, realises, the place he had been calling Home from such a long time was just bricks and walls. The real meaning of Home is seeing and accepting others as they are. In other words of Arthur Parnasus, seeing someone who they are and aren't. It means complete acceptance of the other. And this is not limited to the other, the first Acceptance is of the self. As Linus Baker grew comfortable in the House in the Cerulean Sea, he also became comfortable in his own skin. The more he accepted others for who they were, the more he was ok with his own flaws.
It's Ok to be Different
The story traces the journey of the magical beings who are children & are in a shelter home under the care of their master, Arthur Parnasus. The reason this shelter home is a home and not an orphanage is because of the way Arthur is bringing up these children. They feel seen & accepted for being different. There is a quote in the story, that "People hate what they don't understand" & that was what these children faced from everyone. They were magical and the non magical beings didn't understand them which resulted in hatred being brewed against them. But in the care of Arthur Parnasus, they learnt to accept themselves for who they were and this created a feeling of safety, love & joy in the home.
Old School Romance is still Charming
The romance part in the story, is still very old school, having long conversations under the stars, dancing hand in hand, stealing a look once in a while and shying away back when you feel you are caught, cherishing a tender touch etc all these simple loving moments make you yearn to be loved in the old school way especially during difficult times which is nowadays missing from movies, series & real life!
The Magic of Speaking Softly
This book was so gentle in its language and soft in its tone that you will never really want the story to end.
“You are special. You are important. Not just to the others. But to me. There has never been anyone like you before, and I see you for all that you are, and all the things you aren’t. Come home. All I want you to do is come home.”
Since there are little children involved and most of the story revolves around caring for them, you hardly find a harsh sentence in the book. It speaks to you in a caring undertone you’ve yearned to hear all your life. People might have stopped doing that, but this book assures you of being in safe hands as long as you’re lost in its world.
All of us have special strengths
All the children plus the lead characters in the story have one or two strengths that got the environment which was conducive for them to enhance it. It was also shown in the story that, when you are allowed to work on your strengths, it also results in the healing of your inner emotional & mental wounds. All children along with the lead characters blossomed in the house because they were healing through the strengths and passions they were building gradually.
All in all, the story would leave you with a warm hug and you might wanna live in the Cerulean House hereafter. You might even end up appreciating your family even more and understand the Real meaning of home. It's not necessary that home is built with blood connection, the story tells that a Home is built with the connections of the Heart ❤️
Part of the article was inspired from the following article
Buy the book
https://amzn.to/3tdNdPV