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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Click here to see this review and others on my blog Reading With Daniella
2.5 stars
I have wanted to read this book for such a long time. I’m a bit of a dark fiction enthusiast, and I’ve really been in the mood for them lately!
I was really intrigued and excited about the choice of writing style, but it wasn’t as impactful as I had been expecting it to be. I was anticipating it to be really hard-hitting and emotional to read the letter in the second-person point of view because it would feel as though you were responsible for what happened. (I hope that makes sense!) Instead, it felt like I was disconnected from the story and just hearing Gemma recount what happened.
Honestly, though… the book was a little boring.
The first few chapters were fantastic! From the first page, I was utterly captivated by the frightening story of Gemma being kidnapped in the airport and first brought to Australia.
What happened to her was terrifying and it happened too easily. I think it also served as a powerful reminder, especially for young women, to always be very cautious and aware of their surroundings - better paranoid and safe than sorry!!
However, after they had been in Australia together for a while, things slowed down and I was not as fascinated as I had been initially.
I liked how atmospheric and unique the setting of the Australian desert was. It was an interesting choice but it fit the story so well in the sense of how trapped and isolated Gemma was with Ty. It also fascinated me how sometimes it was like the desert was shown to be the villain in the story with Ty as the saviour. On the multiple occasions that Gemma was harmed by the environment, between the weather and the creatures there, Ty was always there to be her hero. I created such an interesting and frightening dynamic because he kidnapped her and put her in that environment, but he also saved her life so many times.
This is a very complex story that messes with your head a little. Initially, you of course despise her kidnaper, Ty, but as the story progresses, some of that hatred morphed into sympathy and curiosity. However, I feel like I still don't entirely understand his motive for kidnaping Gemma specifically. The history between them was very weird and confusing to me.
I’m still not decided how I feel about the ending. It was left very open-ended, which I was really disappointed by, but I feel like that was done intentionally to draw the focus away from Ty’s fate and to Gemma’s life instead. I really would have liked to have seen what happened to Ty, but I think I understand why the author chose to close the novel in that manner.
2.5 stars
I have wanted to read this book for such a long time. I’m a bit of a dark fiction enthusiast, and I’ve really been in the mood for them lately!
I was really intrigued and excited about the choice of writing style, but it wasn’t as impactful as I had been expecting it to be. I was anticipating it to be really hard-hitting and emotional to read the letter in the second-person point of view because it would feel as though you were responsible for what happened. (I hope that makes sense!) Instead, it felt like I was disconnected from the story and just hearing Gemma recount what happened.
Honestly, though… the book was a little boring.
The first few chapters were fantastic! From the first page, I was utterly captivated by the frightening story of Gemma being kidnapped in the airport and first brought to Australia.
What happened to her was terrifying and it happened too easily. I think it also served as a powerful reminder, especially for young women, to always be very cautious and aware of their surroundings - better paranoid and safe than sorry!!
However, after they had been in Australia together for a while, things slowed down and I was not as fascinated as I had been initially.
I liked how atmospheric and unique the setting of the Australian desert was. It was an interesting choice but it fit the story so well in the sense of how trapped and isolated Gemma was with Ty. It also fascinated me how sometimes it was like the desert was shown to be the villain in the story with Ty as the saviour. On the multiple occasions that Gemma was harmed by the environment, between the weather and the creatures there, Ty was always there to be her hero. I created such an interesting and frightening dynamic because he kidnapped her and put her in that environment, but he also saved her life so many times.
This is a very complex story that messes with your head a little. Initially, you of course despise her kidnaper, Ty, but as the story progresses, some of that hatred morphed into sympathy and curiosity. However, I feel like I still don't entirely understand his motive for kidnaping Gemma specifically. The history between them was very weird and confusing to me.
I’m still not decided how I feel about the ending. It was left very open-ended, which I was really disappointed by, but I feel like that was done intentionally to draw the focus away from Ty’s fate and to Gemma’s life instead. I really would have liked to have seen what happened to Ty, but I think I understand why the author chose to close the novel in that manner.
2.5/5
There wasn't anything I specifically liked about this book, but nothing I specifically didn't like, either. It was just...okay. I know. Lots of insight on my part.
I don't feel like it was bad, I just didn't think it was entirely convincing. Told from the perspective of a young woman who was kidnapped by an unknown male and transplanted to the Australian desert, while I could have seen that coming from the book's onset, but even so I wouldn't say that prediction ruined anything for me. I will say, though, while Above all else, the sheer creepiness of Ty was ONE...not okay. TWO...masked under that same Edward Cullen "troubled and sexy" facade. And THREE...never really explained! I kept expecting the end of the book to actually explain things, but no. He had no real character revelation, and what was there was lazy and half-done. He never even really explained why he kidnapped her in the first place other than "Oh hey your parents were kind of dicky sometimes."
Some of the passages were beautiful, elegantly described. The premise itself, while not overly original, wasn't terrible. I just kept expecting something more. Something somewhere just needed to go there, whether it was to reveal some twist about Ty's history, the reasoning for the kidnapping...something. And maybe it would have been a more compelling ending if would have been left ambiguous, which is where I thought it was headed. Unfortunately the last page just outright told us what was going to happen. Whatever. At least
There wasn't anything I specifically liked about this book, but nothing I specifically didn't like, either. It was just...okay. I know. Lots of insight on my part.
I don't feel like it was bad, I just didn't think it was entirely convincing. Told from the perspective of a young woman who was kidnapped by an unknown male and transplanted to the Australian desert, while
Spoiler
initially she fights against her kidnapper, eventually she falls to a predictable Stockholm Syndrome trope and falls for her kidnapper.Spoiler
not insta-love, the reciprocated attraction seemed super fast.Some of the passages were beautiful, elegantly described. The premise itself, while not overly original, wasn't terrible. I just kept expecting something more. Something somewhere just needed to go there, whether it was to reveal some twist about Ty's history, the reasoning for the kidnapping...something. And maybe it would have been a more compelling ending if
Spoiler
Gemma's testimonySpoiler
she wasn't going to be stupid about it and claim she was willing.
The same thing happens over and over again. The main character (Gemma Toombs) wakes up, goes somewhere with her captor (Ty), and then comes home and sleeps. I expected much more from this book.
This story is incredible. The writing is beautiful and so descriptive I could see the Australian outback. It really makes you experience Stockholm syndrome yourself while reading this book. A worthy winner of the Printz Honor.
Gemma meets Ty at the airport and sees him as an attractive young man. They sit at the same table and have chat. She never asks him to leave her alone. They start talking and he even gives her her coffee, without her knowing what he did with that drink...
I expected more from the story. The first half of the book was tougher to get through. There wasn't much happening. Gemma was in her room most of the time and didn't want to talk to Ty at all. Because the book is a letter written for Ty, I think this part could be shorter. She telling how she felt those first few days. So that we could focus on them as characters more. I wanted to know more about Ty. We did get some idea of his past and such. But it still felt as if there was much more to know about him. The same goes for Gemma. We don't know what kind of person she was before getting kidnapped. We might understand the Stockholm Syndrom better and why she was not very happy to get back home.
I did enjoy the second half of the book. Ty opens up a bit and shows Gemma his paintings. Also, their dynamic when she got bit by that snake and how he really cared about her at that moment. He sacrificed his own 'peaceful' life in the desert for her.
Overall a 3,5/5
I expected more from the story. The first half of the book was tougher to get through. There wasn't much happening. Gemma was in her room most of the time and didn't want to talk to Ty at all. Because the book is a letter written for Ty, I think this part could be shorter. She telling how she felt those first few days. So that we could focus on them as characters more. I wanted to know more about Ty. We did get some idea of his past and such. But it still felt as if there was much more to know about him. The same goes for Gemma. We don't know what kind of person she was before getting kidnapped. We might understand the Stockholm Syndrom better and why she was not very happy to get back home.
I did enjoy the second half of the book. Ty opens up a bit and shows Gemma his paintings. Also, their dynamic when she got bit by that snake and how he really cared about her at that moment. He sacrificed his own 'peaceful' life in the desert for her.
Overall a 3,5/5
Obsession is my new obsession.
When Gemma meets Ty, a handsome yet older guy at the airport, she views the opportunity to talk to him as a chance to get back at her parents. She ignores her instincts that tell her something about him is not right, that he is too familiar for their encounter to be random. Soon after, Gemma is being drugged and dragged away. Stolen from the only life she has ever known. Taken to a place so isolated from the rest of the world that she has no chance, no hope of ever escaping.
I was really hoping to enjoy Stolen more than I actually did, but something about the way the story was told, the narrative style, didn't work for me. Though I do believe the format can and has appealed to many, reading Stolen as Gemma's personal letter to Ty caused a disconnect between the characters and myself when I think the opposite effect was intended.
While I could appreciate Gemma's candid thoughts as she recalled her time as a captive, the story read like a dream, a nightmare, rather than like a reality. It was as if the story purposely tried to discount the severity of kidnapping and the horrors it produces by exaggerating and justifying Ty, by making him a victim instead of criminal.
Because of victim angle, Gemma, along with the readers, is subtly forced into finding understanding and feeling compassion for Ty. Even I wanted to believe there was goodness in him, but I didn't see it.
Obsessed with Gemma since she was ten, he kidnapped her, but he wouldn't dream of raping her because her body is her own? Was that supposed to be the defining factor that made his intentions noble? Yes, I did catch a glimpse of his tormented past in which he experienced abandonment and abuse, a past that shaped him into a highly disturbed individual, able to view himself as a hero for taking Gemma, but I still didn't find him appealing in any way. Nothing could excuse what he'd done, even if he did believe he was saving her, even if he didn't rape her.
I also had a problem with the fact that the only physical harm that came to Gemma was the harm she inflicted on herself. It was another element of the story that forced a feeling of softness toward Ty.
Much like the desert that surrounded Gemma, parts of the story were rather dry. Still, it offered a setting vastly different from any I've read about before, providing, much to my dismay, an escape rather than an imprisonment.
Stolen may have been a bit too sensational for my preference, but it was still very thought provoking. Gemma's bravery was admirable, illustrating unrelenting courage when it would have been easier to give in and accept the dire situation she was forced into.
http://www.theunreadreader.com/2011/03/review-stolen-by-lucy-christopher.html
When Gemma meets Ty, a handsome yet older guy at the airport, she views the opportunity to talk to him as a chance to get back at her parents. She ignores her instincts that tell her something about him is not right, that he is too familiar for their encounter to be random. Soon after, Gemma is being drugged and dragged away. Stolen from the only life she has ever known. Taken to a place so isolated from the rest of the world that she has no chance, no hope of ever escaping.
I was really hoping to enjoy Stolen more than I actually did, but something about the way the story was told, the narrative style, didn't work for me. Though I do believe the format can and has appealed to many, reading Stolen as Gemma's personal letter to Ty caused a disconnect between the characters and myself when I think the opposite effect was intended.
While I could appreciate Gemma's candid thoughts as she recalled her time as a captive, the story read like a dream, a nightmare, rather than like a reality. It was as if the story purposely tried to discount the severity of kidnapping and the horrors it produces by exaggerating and justifying Ty, by making him a victim instead of criminal.
Because of victim angle, Gemma, along with the readers, is subtly forced into finding understanding and feeling compassion for Ty. Even I wanted to believe there was goodness in him, but I didn't see it.
Obsessed with Gemma since she was ten, he kidnapped her, but he wouldn't dream of raping her because her body is her own? Was that supposed to be the defining factor that made his intentions noble? Yes, I did catch a glimpse of his tormented past in which he experienced abandonment and abuse, a past that shaped him into a highly disturbed individual, able to view himself as a hero for taking Gemma, but I still didn't find him appealing in any way. Nothing could excuse what he'd done, even if he did believe he was saving her, even if he didn't rape her.
I also had a problem with the fact that the only physical harm that came to Gemma was the harm she inflicted on herself. It was another element of the story that forced a feeling of softness toward Ty.
Much like the desert that surrounded Gemma, parts of the story were rather dry. Still, it offered a setting vastly different from any I've read about before, providing, much to my dismay, an escape rather than an imprisonment.
Stolen may have been a bit too sensational for my preference, but it was still very thought provoking. Gemma's bravery was admirable, illustrating unrelenting courage when it would have been easier to give in and accept the dire situation she was forced into.
http://www.theunreadreader.com/2011/03/review-stolen-by-lucy-christopher.html
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No