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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I could barely put this book down. It ripped me apart. I loved the multiple points of view of this book. It was so well done. It kept the book humming along and I found myself holding my breath while reading it. There was so much tragedy wrapped up in this book. It makes me so angry that things like this happen all the time to girls like Sadie. Lots of content warnings for this book: abuse and violence.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This review may contain some spoilers..
I still feel like I have not fully digested this story.. let alone pieced together how I FEEL about this book. I keep going back and forth with giving it 3 stars or 4 stars, but I am settling on 4.
It is dark, heart-wrenching, sick, devastating, unsettling.. yet it's one of those books that you just cannot put down. I listened to the Audiobook & It was pretty short.. I want to say a little bit over 7 hours long, but I listened to it within 2 days. I am left feeling all tangled up inside!
In a nutshell: There is young girl found dead, murdered. The police have no leads. Sadie, the older sister of the dead girl- Mattie, has spent her life taking care of her now dead little sister. Their mother, who is an absent drug addict, does little to raise these young girls. Sadie loves her little sister more than life itself and does everything in her power to fill in as the mother role to Mattie. But when Mattie is found murdered, Sadie takes off in search of Mattie's killer. The story follows a podcast investigation, where they try to figure out where Sadie has gone. Is she dead too? Is she a runaway? Nobody knows.. The Podcast is full of interviews of Sadie's surrogate grandmother as well as all the people Sadie came in contact with on her journey. The story switches point of views between West McCray, the radio personality, and Sadie.
This book is DEVASTATING! Purely devastating. If you're into books that utterly destroy you, I'd highly recommend!
I still feel like I have not fully digested this story.. let alone pieced together how I FEEL about this book. I keep going back and forth with giving it 3 stars or 4 stars, but I am settling on 4.
Spoiler
3 stars because of the ending that left me feeling completely unresolved and yearning for more. Why would the author do that with no intention of a sequel?! To create this desperate, traumatized character who deserves a happy ending... or at least some closure.. and then not even be clear on what exactly happened?! I am all for a dramatic, devastating ending but this ending was just.. not an ending? Nothing was resolved.. They are still looking for Sadie.. Is she dead or alive? WTH!It is dark, heart-wrenching, sick, devastating, unsettling.. yet it's one of those books that you just cannot put down. I listened to the Audiobook & It was pretty short.. I want to say a little bit over 7 hours long, but I listened to it within 2 days. I am left feeling all tangled up inside!
In a nutshell: There is young girl found dead, murdered. The police have no leads. Sadie, the older sister of the dead girl- Mattie, has spent her life taking care of her now dead little sister. Their mother, who is an absent drug addict, does little to raise these young girls. Sadie loves her little sister more than life itself and does everything in her power to fill in as the mother role to Mattie. But when Mattie is found murdered, Sadie takes off in search of Mattie's killer. The story follows a podcast investigation, where they try to figure out where Sadie has gone. Is she dead too? Is she a runaway? Nobody knows.. The Podcast is full of interviews of Sadie's surrogate grandmother as well as all the people Sadie came in contact with on her journey. The story switches point of views between West McCray, the radio personality, and Sadie.
This book is DEVASTATING! Purely devastating. If you're into books that utterly destroy you, I'd highly recommend!
True rating: 4.5.
If you ever wanted to give an audiobook a try, pick this one! This riveting story is completely unique and begs to be listened to. Readers follow Sadie, a teenage runaway who becomes increasingly obsessed with tracking and punishing her younger sister, Mattie's, rapist and killer. Sadie is cunning and smart, wise beyond her years due to the fact that her drug-addicted mother left her daughters to fend for themselves years ago. Sadie's stutter makes it relatively easy for national podcast host, West McCray, to track her disappearance in a show he calls, "The Girls," which also seeks to solve the mystery of Mattie's murder. Starting with only Sadie's abandoned car and the guidance of the girls' grandmotherly neighbor, West does the type of investigating the police should have done in the first place. The best part about West's investigation is that it is told in the format of an actual "Serial"-style podcast. While readers get Sadie's side of the story through her narrated chapters, the alternating podcast chapters introduce readers to a variety of characters who've interacted with Sadie as she hunts Mattie's killer, and these characters, in their own words, often provide accounts that differ from Sadie's. The tension in the story builds as Sadie becomes more unhinged and West is hot on her heels.
In many ways, this book reminded me of Mindy McGinnis', "The Female of the Species." Both protagonists have a darkness they can't escape, and they'll stop at nothing to bring about their own sense of justice. This books tops my list of titles for 2019.
If you ever wanted to give an audiobook a try, pick this one! This riveting story is completely unique and begs to be listened to. Readers follow Sadie, a teenage runaway who becomes increasingly obsessed with tracking and punishing her younger sister, Mattie's, rapist and killer. Sadie is cunning and smart, wise beyond her years due to the fact that her drug-addicted mother left her daughters to fend for themselves years ago. Sadie's stutter makes it relatively easy for national podcast host, West McCray, to track her disappearance in a show he calls, "The Girls," which also seeks to solve the mystery of Mattie's murder. Starting with only Sadie's abandoned car and the guidance of the girls' grandmotherly neighbor, West does the type of investigating the police should have done in the first place. The best part about West's investigation is that it is told in the format of an actual "Serial"-style podcast. While readers get Sadie's side of the story through her narrated chapters, the alternating podcast chapters introduce readers to a variety of characters who've interacted with Sadie as she hunts Mattie's killer, and these characters, in their own words, often provide accounts that differ from Sadie's. The tension in the story builds as Sadie becomes more unhinged and West is hot on her heels.
In many ways, this book reminded me of Mindy McGinnis', "The Female of the Species." Both protagonists have a darkness they can't escape, and they'll stop at nothing to bring about their own sense of justice. This books tops my list of titles for 2019.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
If you are a true crime podcast fanatic, this is the book for you. I picked this book up knowing very little about it, and it was way deeper and better then I was expecting. I was unsure how I felt about Sadie in the beginning, but her character really expanded and became more well rounded with each chapter. The way the book is written is so clever and really keeps you hooked. I love that the ending resolves what you need it to, but keeps enough ambiguous that you are thinking about it for days. This books gets truly heartbreakingly sad and breathtakingly hopeful. There are a lot of triggers but if you can read it, you should read it. I highly recommend listening to it as an audiobook.
Edit: after a few weeks I gave it another star. I couldn’t stop thinking about the end, it was so well done.
Edit: after a few weeks I gave it another star. I couldn’t stop thinking about the end, it was so well done.
4.5 rounded up. It's been months since I finished Sadie, and I still can't stop thinking about it. The protagonist's voice is so raw and powerful throughout the novel that it elevates the whole experience, to the point where I don't mind that the novel is less descriptive in certain other aspects, as Sadie's voice more than makes up for that. The author also made a very bold choice with the ending, which I respect quite a bit (but won't spoil here).
(Side note: For additional ambience, I highly recommend playing the soundtrack to the tabletop game Alice is Missing while you're reading this - while Sadie stands well on its own without any background audio, I can definitely say that that soundtrack enhanced the experience for me.
(Side note: For additional ambience, I highly recommend playing the soundtrack to the tabletop game Alice is Missing while you're reading this - while Sadie stands well on its own without any background audio, I can definitely say that that soundtrack enhanced the experience for me.
What the hell? Totally lame ending, ruined the whole book.