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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Score: 4/5
Kim Leamy is an ordinary girl who lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is a part-time photographer and teacher at TAFE. One day, before Kim taught the next class, an American man approached her and talked about the abduction of Sammy Went. The abduction happened 28 years ago at Manson, Kentucky in the States. Kim didn’t understand why that American Man told her those things until the man said Kim might be Sammy Went. Kim wanted to know the truth, so she flew to the US. Kim realized the deeper she digs into her past; the darker side of Manson appears. Is Kim, Sammy Went? And who kidnapped Sammy Went?
If you look closely at the book cover, you will see the award badges. 4 badges guys! White is an Australian author. That’s why the protagonist is an Aussie as you can probably tell. The Nowhere Child is White debut novel and it was a success. I’m happy for him.
The storyline was switching between now and then. White did a good job on that. However, I didn’t find this book exciting or thrilling even around the end of the book. However, I found the story was very smooth and very joyful. Every clue in the book was solved. I was happy with that because I HATE anything being inconclusive. What I really like about this book was when Kim arrived at Manson then she checked in at the hotel. She turned on the telly and the Antique Roadshow show was on. The reason I like this is because my mother-in-law loves this show. She tried to show me some bit of the show once, but it wasn’t my thing. Anyway, I thought it wasn’t a popular show but White decided to use it in his book. It was very unexpected.
What I am about to tell you right now will be a very superstitious story, but I just want to put it here. So, I asked God what I should read, then I closed my eyes and randomly picked up the book. My hands grabbed The Nowhere Child. Believe it or not, there was quite some time the Bible was brought up in this book. It was very freaky and awesome at the same time!
The Nowhere Child might be an out of sight book among Thai readers, but I really want everyone to read it. This Australian author will make you amazed and you will love his book as much as I do, or maybe more.
Kim Leamy is an ordinary girl who lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is a part-time photographer and teacher at TAFE. One day, before Kim taught the next class, an American man approached her and talked about the abduction of Sammy Went. The abduction happened 28 years ago at Manson, Kentucky in the States. Kim didn’t understand why that American Man told her those things until the man said Kim might be Sammy Went. Kim wanted to know the truth, so she flew to the US. Kim realized the deeper she digs into her past; the darker side of Manson appears. Is Kim, Sammy Went? And who kidnapped Sammy Went?
If you look closely at the book cover, you will see the award badges. 4 badges guys! White is an Australian author. That’s why the protagonist is an Aussie as you can probably tell. The Nowhere Child is White debut novel and it was a success. I’m happy for him.
The storyline was switching between now and then. White did a good job on that. However, I didn’t find this book exciting or thrilling even around the end of the book. However, I found the story was very smooth and very joyful. Every clue in the book was solved. I was happy with that because I HATE anything being inconclusive. What I really like about this book was when Kim arrived at Manson then she checked in at the hotel. She turned on the telly and the Antique Roadshow show was on. The reason I like this is because my mother-in-law loves this show. She tried to show me some bit of the show once, but it wasn’t my thing. Anyway, I thought it wasn’t a popular show but White decided to use it in his book. It was very unexpected.
What I am about to tell you right now will be a very superstitious story, but I just want to put it here. So, I asked God what I should read, then I closed my eyes and randomly picked up the book. My hands grabbed The Nowhere Child. Believe it or not, there was quite some time the Bible was brought up in this book. It was very freaky and awesome at the same time!
The Nowhere Child might be an out of sight book among Thai readers, but I really want everyone to read it. This Australian author will make you amazed and you will love his book as much as I do, or maybe more.
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Author had a range of interesting ideas, but they didn't gel into a story that worked for me. About a third of the way through, I skipped to the end to find out where things get to, and concluded that the plot was at least interesting enough to find out how it got from where I was to where it was going.
Plot was strong, world-building was a bit shaky and kept throwing me out of the story; characters mostly didn't read like people (and the way that ephemeral characters seemed to be almost caricatures based on physical characteristics was disconcerting); writing is strong but wasn't enough to support the issues with world-building and characterisation.
Two examples of my issues with the characterisation:
Plot was strong, world-building was a bit shaky and kept throwing me out of the story; characters mostly didn't read like people (and the way that ephemeral characters seemed to be almost caricatures based on physical characteristics was disconcerting); writing is strong but wasn't enough to support the issues with world-building and characterisation.
Two examples of my issues with the characterisation:
- we learn that one character is African-American because we get to read a personals ad that they have put in a 'looking for love' column; there was nothing else that I noticed that gave me any sense of 'race' other than 'white' (split into 'Australian' and 'American') for any of the other characters.
This is one of the characters that dies onscreen, in what seemed a completely irrelevant scene - One older woman is introduced and characterised as fat and slovenly, mostly so that a later character can be compared to her, and some unkind comparisons drawn.
I found the quality of the writing off putting, given that the book had a literary prize sticker on the front; I would have been less judgemental about it had I realised that it was a prize for an unpublished manuscript, and thus would have been holding it to a different standard. I would still have had the same response, but I wouldn't have had the 'how the hell did this get a literary award' response.
The plot was very convoluted. I realise that real life is messy, but this was too convoluted for my preferences, particularly when
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Kidnapping, Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Death of parent
I'm pretty sure I've missed some content warnings. A significant plot line has to do with a fundamentalist Christian church and their teachings, as well as mention of at least two 'exorcisms' done, one to a queer teenage boy to drive the homosexuality out, and the other to a pregnant unmarried young woman which causes her to miscarry. There are references to other, possibly true, events where similar treatments around the USA have killed young children.