Book Review: "Beyond the Point" by Claire Gibson
“Beyond the Point” by Claire Gibson
Synopsis: Duty. Honor. Country. That’s West Point’s motto, and every cadet who passes through its stone gates vows to live it. But on the eve of 9/11, as Dani, Hannah and Avery face four grueling years ahead, they realize they’ll only survive if they do it together.
Everyone knows Dani is going places. With athletic talent and a brilliant mind, she navigates West Point’s predominantly male environment with wit and confidence, breaking stereotypes and embracing new friends.
Hannah’s grandfather, a legendary Army general, offers a stark warning about the dangers that lie ahead, but she moves forward anyway, letting faith guide her path. When she meets her soul mate at West Point, the future looks perfect, just as planned.
Wild child Avery moves fast and doesn’t mind breaking a few rules (and hearts) along the way. But she can’t outpace her self-doubt, and the harder she tries, the further it leads her down a treacherous path.
The world—of business, of love, and of war—awaits Dani, Hannah, and Avery beyond the gates of West Point. These three women know that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But soon, that adage no longer rings true—for their future, or their friendship. As they’re pulled in different directions, will their hard-forged bond prevail or shatter?
Beyond the Point is a heartfelt look at how our closest friends can become our fiercest battle buddies. After all, the greatest battles we fight rarely require a uniform.
Rating: 4.25
Review: I was in tenth grade when 9/11 happened, and I still remember exactly where I was standing when I heard the news. Honestly, it didn’t hit me until later that day just how much was going to change in the U.S. If I thought my (very small, mostly local) life in Alabama was going to shift, I cannot imagine what I would have felt like had I been a student at West Point or Annapolis — someone just a few years older than I was who had committed to a military academy during a long period of peace. And after reading “Beyond the Point,” I don't have to .
This novel is the story of three women — driven Dani, wild child Avery, and calmly devout Hannah — who enrolled at West Point as students in the Class of 2004; they went to the school for their own reasons, but were all connected by the women’s basketball team. The book takes us through their enrollment, their plebe summer, their four years of school, and then beyond, as they enter their real world. At its core, it is an amazing tale of female friendship — not just between Dani, Avery, and Hannah, but between the others in their orbit.
We know in the first chapter that something terrible has happened, but you don’t find out until about 60% of the way through what the horrible thing is and who it impacted. (#spoilerfree) I gasped, I teared up, and I grieved with these characters that I had come to know. Resiliency, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated character traits, but it is one that I would use to describe all the characters in the last half of the book. As sad as I was, it doesn’t detract from the fact that it was both realistically and beautifully rendered.
I saw a bit of myself in all of the characters — Hannah’s faith, Avery’s tendency to be self-involved, Dani’s proclivity for stress shopping. I love a book with strong and realistic depiction of women and their friendships, and this one fit the bill. You can definitely tell that Claire Gibson grew up around military women and spoke to some of the few women who have recently graduated from West Point; it adds a richness to this novel. I found it fascinated to read about how life actually happens at West Point — the training, the insults, the camaraderie, the traditions — but it also reinforced that I would have been one of the people that dropped out in the first week.
My glowing review besides, you should read this one if you’re interested about women in the military, what it is like to be a soldier post-9/11, or if you just life heartwarming tales of female friendship. A great read, and one I enjoyed much more than I anticipated.
It doesn’t bother me, but just want to flag that this book does have frank discussions about faith in God and Jesus — it doesn’t take away from the story, and it honestly added to it, at least for me. I would never list that as a trigger warning, but I wanted to flag that this book had a little more Jesus than I initially anticipated.
Trigger Warnings: 9/11; war; death of loved ones; men who are jerks; men who are almost too good to be true
TL;DR: This book was a cross between “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and Zero Dark Thirty, two things that I wouldn’t have connected before reading. A powerful look at the strength of female friendship, loyalty, and commitment.
If you liked this, try these:
“The Other’s Gold” by Elizabeth Ames —> tbqh, I haven’t read this one because it’s not yet released, but it’s been pre-ordered, and I’m super excited about it!
