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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
This book combines outdoor survival, a genre I love (what to eat, how to find shelter, what will kill you) with a thriller suspense story about a woman who grew up in an isolated marsh, the child of a sociopathic kidnapper and his teenage victim. The story goes back and forth between the present, when the kidnapper escapes from prison, to the past including childhood in the marsh leading up to the escape when the protagonist is 12. The ecology is a marsh which is a bit different from other survival stories I've read. I didn't know you can eat cattails.
A good read although the protagonist's ambivalence toward her father and complicated if mostly absent feelings toward her mother are hard to absorb.
A good read although the protagonist's ambivalence toward her father and complicated if mostly absent feelings toward her mother are hard to absorb.
Well written, tight thriller with excellent character development. I enjoyed this one immensely.
3.5 stars. A disturbing page turner, but well done for what it is.
It was a slow start for me on this book, but once I settled in, it was a decent read. It was nice to read a book that takes place in the UP of Michigan and I was able to picture the locations that were referenced.
The thing I loved best about the book is how the story is interwoven with Andersen's fairy tale of The Marsh King's Daughter. That, more than anything, helped me to find meaning in the story and better understand Helena. This is important, because I found myself really irritated with Helena for most of the book, to the point that I couldn't decide if it was bad writing or brilliant writing that was really giving me a taste of how messy and complicated it must be for children who come from abusive households.
The other thing that stood out is that, unlike many books I've read over the past few years, this one did nothing to make me fall in love with the landscape. There's a certain romanticism about off-the-grid living, but this one was appropriately tempered with the realities of bugs, humidity, cold, etc. such that I have zero inclination to see Michigan marshes, much less live there. This feels more honest.
The only other thing I'll say is that if you're delicate about animals, you need to brace yourself. There are hunting scenes and some issues around dogs. The hunting scenes usually don't bother me, but there is one in particular that is very detailed, upsetting (to me), and goes on forever. I had to skip ahead because I just couldn't take it. If you want to know more in advance, I recommend checking out the website "Does the Dog Die," which will spill the beans on potentially upsetting animal situations in books and movies - I find it invaluable.
The other thing that stood out is that, unlike many books I've read over the past few years, this one did nothing to make me fall in love with the landscape. There's a certain romanticism about off-the-grid living, but this one was appropriately tempered with the realities of bugs, humidity, cold, etc. such that I have zero inclination to see Michigan marshes, much less live there. This feels more honest.
The only other thing I'll say is that if you're delicate about animals, you need to brace yourself. There are hunting scenes and some issues around dogs. The hunting scenes usually don't bother me, but there is one in particular that is very detailed, upsetting (to me), and goes on forever. I had to skip ahead because I just couldn't take it. If you want to know more in advance, I recommend checking out the website "Does the Dog Die," which will spill the beans on potentially upsetting animal situations in books and movies - I find it invaluable.
I should not have started this book on a busy day. After reading the first chapter, I was hooked. Helena's mother was kidnapped as a preteen, and Helena was born in captivity. After many years, they escaped, and the Marsh King was eventually imprisoned. Years later, the Marsh King escapes from prison, and Helena believes that she is the only one who can stop her father.
The novel alternates between the time of Helena and her mother's captivity and the time after they escaped as well as Helena attempted to find her father after he escaped from prison. I hope this has been optioned as a movie--in the right hands, it would be terrific.
The novel alternates between the time of Helena and her mother's captivity and the time after they escaped as well as Helena attempted to find her father after he escaped from prison. I hope this has been optioned as a movie--in the right hands, it would be terrific.
This was a compelling read!!! There were a few things that didn't add up to me (bits in the timeline, the fact that she was so close to her husband yet never told him about her background, the fact that she chose to live on her grandparents' property as if she wanted to be found etc), and the writing wasn't brilliant, but I could not stop listening to this!!! On a number of occasions, I could feel my heart rate quicken because I did get really quite scared on behalf of our narrator.
A frightful, gruesome story, but compared with what I'm reading right now ("My Absolute Darling" by Gabriel Tallent), it almost seems harmless..... I suppose, it's all relative!
A frightful, gruesome story, but compared with what I'm reading right now ("My Absolute Darling" by Gabriel Tallent), it almost seems harmless..... I suppose, it's all relative!
Almost like if Room, Chevy Steven’s Still Missing and Where the Crawdad’s Sing had a baby that’s what this book felt like to me. A different and interesting approach of being told from the perspective of the child of the kidnapped.