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leasa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
elisabeth1st's review against another edition
4.0
I read this 750 something page book in one sitting on a flight home from Greece. The time period of late 50s early 60s touched home with me and the main character, an 8 year old girl, drew me in. The time period is innocent but there are many foreboding issues interwoven throughout the story. I think readers of all ages would like it but those familiar with the pop culture of the time will be most struck by the book.
tullyndmom's review against another edition
3.0
Trigger warnings for those who need to know what they’re getting into.
Spoiler
This book contains scenes of child sexual molestation.
I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read it if I’d known.
Otherwise it was beautifully crafted and extremely well written. It’s somewhat slow moving at times but I’m not one to say it could have been shorter - I don’t know what could really have been cut without losing the richness of the prose. Well worth the read if you can stomach the above triggers.
Spoiler
This book contains scenes of child sexual molestation.
I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read it if I’d known.
Otherwise it was beautifully crafted and extremely well written. It’s somewhat slow moving at times but I’m not one to say it could have been shorter - I don’t know what could really have been cut without losing the richness of the prose. Well worth the read if you can stomach the above triggers.
aoutramafalda's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing graphic novel, with beautiful watercolour type artwork. The story occurs in France during the WW II.
vhop's review against another edition
5.0
Olipa tarina. Voisi sanoa, että ”elämää suurempi romaani”. Tätä on vaikea edes arvostella, mutta sanottakoon, että oli melkoista tunteiden vuoristorataa jopa kaltaiselleni tunteellisuutta karttavalle lukijalle. On nautinnollista lukea hyvin kirjoitettua tarinaa, jossa on sekä mukaansatempaava juoni että syvempää tematiikkaa, joka saa lukijan pohtimaan muutakin kuin ”mitähän seuraavaksi tapahtuu”.
jessicaatreides's review against another edition
3.0
I had a love/hate thing with this book. It was good and yet wasn't. It started really slow but since I liked the author's writing style I kept at it. The characters were good and the over all plot was promising. It did get good for awhile then it just couldn't hold my attention. I found myself just wishing it was over. Finally, I just skipped to the very end as I had no patience left. I found it just to be wayyyy to long.
jeanettesonya's review against another edition
5.0
I grew up in Huron County, about half an hour from Clinton, where Lynne Harper (12) was raped and murdered and Stephen Truscotte (14) was convicted and sentenced to death for it. The miscarriage of justice is a part of the cultural story there and as soon as I realized that this novel was inspired by that whole situation, I wanted to throw the book out. The Truscotte case and this book are all about evil getting away with evil and because I knew the case, I knew the outcome. And it was hard to read.
But, it was so well written. This book took up space in my brain in a way no other book has for months, maybe even years. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading and pages flew by when I was. The setting was so vivid, the characters so beautifully portrayed. Normally, I find that books that are more than 400 pages are entirely too long; but not this one. It was long, but I never found myself wishing for the end, slogging through in the hopes that things pick up.
Only complaint - the “r” word is thrown around a lot. True to the setting, perhaps, and also potentially indicative of the time in which it was written (2003 - almost 20 years old!) but it made me cringe a little and wonder: how would this be written today? Have we mostly removed that word from our literary vocabulary, or am I just being overly sensitive?
Anyway.
Highly recommended.
But, it was so well written. This book took up space in my brain in a way no other book has for months, maybe even years. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading and pages flew by when I was. The setting was so vivid, the characters so beautifully portrayed. Normally, I find that books that are more than 400 pages are entirely too long; but not this one. It was long, but I never found myself wishing for the end, slogging through in the hopes that things pick up.
Only complaint - the “r” word is thrown around a lot. True to the setting, perhaps, and also potentially indicative of the time in which it was written (2003 - almost 20 years old!) but it made me cringe a little and wonder: how would this be written today? Have we mostly removed that word from our literary vocabulary, or am I just being overly sensitive?
Anyway.
Highly recommended.
wendoxford's review against another edition
4.0
Wow! What an amazing, immersive read.
Whilst the context is the Canadian Air Force in the Cold War, the fulcrum is a class of 8 year old girls, changing allegiances, secrets and the consequences of telling the truth or not. The story of the young Madeleine is paralleled by her father and the silence he keeps, placing political expediency above personal connections. Both of them and the rest of the family segue into different forms of self-destruction over the subsequent decades.
MacDonald maintains the tension by having a febrile finger on the pulse of adult and child emotions, the contradictions within us all intertwined with the grey world that is subjective morality.
Whilst the context is the Canadian Air Force in the Cold War, the fulcrum is a class of 8 year old girls, changing allegiances, secrets and the consequences of telling the truth or not. The story of the young Madeleine is paralleled by her father and the silence he keeps, placing political expediency above personal connections. Both of them and the rest of the family segue into different forms of self-destruction over the subsequent decades.
MacDonald maintains the tension by having a febrile finger on the pulse of adult and child emotions, the contradictions within us all intertwined with the grey world that is subjective morality.
crabbygirl's review against another edition
3.0
[guessing at the star rating / mining my old FB notes now that they are almost impossible to find]
a few pages before the end of this book, i would have said: what a tour de force -
as it stands though, the sensationalist ending taints the whole book. and is probably why it didn't win the awards it deserved for the first 98% of it
when you pick up such a big book you think: really? do you really need so many pages to tell this tale, or is this vanity? but this is more like three books in one.
i was on pg 375 of an 800+ page book when the visual hit me: the back of a boy in red jeans, a girl in a fluttering blue dress, the turning wheels of a bike echoed through a wheelchair - oh god, this is steven truscot... his story inspired this book.
and then it was sickening. because you know how wrong it's going to turn out, and there's still so much left to read, still so much left to suffer through.
this was the biggest surprise for me: here i'd already read the upsetting story of a child's slow drowning inside the sick mind of a pedophile (and her family's repeated near-misses to see and stop those events) but when i got to the second part of the book - the gross injustice done to a teenage boy - it bothered much more than the first part. why?
because the molested child is a fictional character here, but the boy - the boy was obviously modeled on a real human being and these things really did happen to a flesh and blood man. it stopped being fiction; it stopped being a novel. i couldn't stop reading because i had to get to the other side when it was going to get (marginally) better. i couldn't leave this real human being in the middle of that misery.
the third part of the book is probably where most novels end - the story of what happens afterwards. this father and daughter, each holding a dreadful secret that informs the rest of their lives. this was the most honest, and the saddest part.
i can understand intellectually why the author did what she did with the ending - to turn the tables on the reader's conviction of guilt. but my emotions still can't abide by her ending.
a few pages before the end of this book, i would have said: what a tour de force -
as it stands though, the sensationalist ending taints the whole book. and is probably why it didn't win the awards it deserved for the first 98% of it
when you pick up such a big book you think: really? do you really need so many pages to tell this tale, or is this vanity? but this is more like three books in one.
i was on pg 375 of an 800+ page book when the visual hit me: the back of a boy in red jeans, a girl in a fluttering blue dress, the turning wheels of a bike echoed through a wheelchair - oh god, this is steven truscot... his story inspired this book.
and then it was sickening. because you know how wrong it's going to turn out, and there's still so much left to read, still so much left to suffer through.
this was the biggest surprise for me: here i'd already read the upsetting story of a child's slow drowning inside the sick mind of a pedophile (and her family's repeated near-misses to see and stop those events) but when i got to the second part of the book - the gross injustice done to a teenage boy - it bothered much more than the first part. why?
because the molested child is a fictional character here, but the boy - the boy was obviously modeled on a real human being and these things really did happen to a flesh and blood man. it stopped being fiction; it stopped being a novel. i couldn't stop reading because i had to get to the other side when it was going to get (marginally) better. i couldn't leave this real human being in the middle of that misery.
the third part of the book is probably where most novels end - the story of what happens afterwards. this father and daughter, each holding a dreadful secret that informs the rest of their lives. this was the most honest, and the saddest part.
i can understand intellectually why the author did what she did with the ending - to turn the tables on the reader's conviction of guilt. but my emotions still can't abide by her ending.
hilarybear's review against another edition
5.0
This book was very well written, with a complex an intertwining storyline and the character development was very well done. I feel like I have a hole in my soul after reading this book, I don't even have words to describe it. Sad just doesn't seem substantial enough to describe how I feel right now. I definitely recommend this book, but just be prepared mentally and emotionally.