You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
Extremely well-written.
Very depressing, based on real story of Stephen Truscott.
Very depressing, based on real story of Stephen Truscott.
This book kicked my ass. It took me a while to get into it, but once things started happening, I found it very compelling, as well as utterly devastating. I don't think it's revealing too much to say that Mr. March, mentioned in the blurb? He was sexually abusing several of the girls in his class. The very idea of that alone is enough to be upsetting, but MacDonald presents it in a way that is just heartbreaking: the perspective of one of the abused children. First there's the fear and the feeling that you're in trouble when you're asked to stay after class. Then there's the confusion over just what exactly is happening at these times, and what it could possibly have to do with the reason you're ostensibly in trouble. Then there's the growing realization of what's going on. And then, perhaps most devastating of all, is the ongoing unwillingness to tell anyone about what's happening, because you know that it's bad and you're sure that if you tell, you'll get in trouble for participating in something this bad. I genuinely wanted to cry throughout much of the middle section of this book, when I didn't want to just rage against the world for allowing this kind of thing to happen.
Because while this may be fiction, the fact of the matter is that right now, this is happening to someone. More than one someone. Countless little kids are going through exactly what the kids in this book did, and that is just so far from acceptable that I don't have the words for it, and I found reading this part of the book very difficult.
Of course, there was also a whole other maelstrom of related-but-not events and circumstances going on, which lead us into the last part of the book, where, as I believe she did in Fall on Your Knees as well, MacDonald takes us back to those pivotal events and tells us how things really happened, and the truth is kind of even more awful than what you thought happened.
It takes skill to write the way MacDonald does, to deliberately telegraph almost everything but still have it be riveting. There are very few huge dramatic twists in this book; you see almost everything coming, even if sometimes you revise your expectations as you go along. But that doesn't make it dull. At times it reminded me of reading Of Mice and Men, where I knew exactly where things were going, and dreaded turning every page, even as I was inexorably drawn to do so. Same kind of idea here. The dread of knowing how things were going to go and being unable to do anything to stop it was extremely effective in this book.
I think she's also very good at presenting you with the situation and giving you no reason to question it, only to turn it all on its head later — without actually rewriting history, so to speak. The clues were there, and if you chose to look beyond what seems like the clear solution, you could have figured that part out too. She'd probably make a good mystery writer.
Ultimately, it was one of those books that I can't say I enjoyed, as such, but I can say that it was a good read. Just not if you're looking for something uplifting.
Because while this may be fiction, the fact of the matter is that right now, this is happening to someone. More than one someone. Countless little kids are going through exactly what the kids in this book did, and that is just so far from acceptable that I don't have the words for it, and I found reading this part of the book very difficult.
Of course, there was also a whole other maelstrom of related-but-not events and circumstances going on, which lead us into the last part of the book, where, as I believe she did in Fall on Your Knees as well, MacDonald takes us back to those pivotal events and tells us how things really happened, and the truth is kind of even more awful than what you thought happened.
It takes skill to write the way MacDonald does, to deliberately telegraph almost everything but still have it be riveting. There are very few huge dramatic twists in this book; you see almost everything coming, even if sometimes you revise your expectations as you go along. But that doesn't make it dull. At times it reminded me of reading Of Mice and Men, where I knew exactly where things were going, and dreaded turning every page, even as I was inexorably drawn to do so. Same kind of idea here. The dread of knowing how things were going to go and being unable to do anything to stop it was extremely effective in this book.
I think she's also very good at presenting you with the situation and giving you no reason to question it, only to turn it all on its head later — without actually rewriting history, so to speak. The clues were there, and if you chose to look beyond what seems like the clear solution, you could have figured that part out too. She'd probably make a good mystery writer.
Ultimately, it was one of those books that I can't say I enjoyed, as such, but I can say that it was a good read. Just not if you're looking for something uplifting.
This book starts out slow but if you can get through the first 75 pages, the book becomes well worth the read. Madelaine is a young girl living on a military base on the Canadian/American border during the Cold War. While the war in the world goes on, Madelaine and her young friends face their own war in school against a teacher who takes pleasure in molesting the children. The book covers the issues Madelaine faces all the way through her adulthood.
I liked that the book brings many different events and threads together in a tight web that wraps everyone together. I liked the Canadian perspective on the Cold War. I found it a bit off-putting that Acts 1-2 written from a child's point of view seem written by a different author than Act 3, written from an adult's POV.
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
This book was way too long and I think the editor knew it. The very first page is the description of a scene in which a murder is foretold. The next 350 pages of the book is the meandering build up to the murder scene. Ann-Marie MacDonald leads the reader through rooms involving child molestation, international spydom, elementary school quarrels, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Nazi refugees. And written like this, I admit it sounds interesting. But all of those topics are told through the eyes of a 9 year old who doesn't quite understand.
Interspersed through the narrative are occasional jumps to the murder scene, in which the reader gets time to formulate a motive and suspect. The author is very skilled at leading the reader along the wrong path. Too skilled, I'd say, because if this weren't my book group book I would have stopped reading it about 500 pages in thinking that I knew the who/what/where/when. I think the editor felt the same way, otherwise the murder narratives wouldn't be necessary. The plot would just propel you through the evidence of the case.
After the murder was revealed (I was right about who got killed, by the way, thus adding to my "I can see right through this plot" feeling I had), the plot was more solid and focused. I flew through pp. 350 - 600, really really good stuff. Then in the six hundreds somewhere you hit a chapter that reintroduced Madeleine, the lead character, as an adult. You learn of her hinted at lesbianism and the outcome of her parent's marraige after moving from Centralia, Ontario. She's screwed up, she's leaving her girlfriend for another woman. Honestly, I didn't need all this explication.
Round about p. 725, McDonald starts to reapply the circumstantial evidence of the case and the reader learns their assumed culprit had a solid alibi. You read the main characters findings of the case after she starts researching evidence about 30 years after the incident had taken place and find out the true story of that murderous night. Very well done. I was completely wrong about thinking I knew the mystery at p. 200. The clues planted all along the way that the obvious suspect was not the killer are perfectly fitting in hindsight. Really beautifully told, I just wish I hadn't had to wade through 400 pages of red herrings to find out I was wrong.
This book was way too long and I think the editor knew it. The very first page is the description of a scene in which a murder is foretold. The next 350 pages of the book is the meandering build up to the murder scene. Ann-Marie MacDonald leads the reader through rooms involving child molestation, international spydom, elementary school quarrels, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Nazi refugees. And written like this, I admit it sounds interesting. But all of those topics are told through the eyes of a 9 year old who doesn't quite understand.
Interspersed through the narrative are occasional jumps to the murder scene, in which the reader gets time to formulate a motive and suspect. The author is very skilled at leading the reader along the wrong path. Too skilled, I'd say, because if this weren't my book group book I would have stopped reading it about 500 pages in thinking that I knew the who/what/where/when. I think the editor felt the same way, otherwise the murder narratives wouldn't be necessary. The plot would just propel you through the evidence of the case.
After the murder was revealed (I was right about who got killed, by the way, thus adding to my "I can see right through this plot" feeling I had), the plot was more solid and focused. I flew through pp. 350 - 600, really really good stuff. Then in the six hundreds somewhere you hit a chapter that reintroduced Madeleine, the lead character, as an adult. You learn of her hinted at lesbianism and the outcome of her parent's marraige after moving from Centralia, Ontario. She's screwed up, she's leaving her girlfriend for another woman. Honestly, I didn't need all this explication.
Round about p. 725, McDonald starts to reapply the circumstantial evidence of the case and the reader learns their assumed culprit had a solid alibi. You read the main characters findings of the case after she starts researching evidence about 30 years after the incident had taken place and find out the true story of that murderous night. Very well done. I was completely wrong about thinking I knew the mystery at p. 200. The clues planted all along the way that the obvious suspect was not the killer are perfectly fitting in hindsight. Really beautifully told, I just wish I hadn't had to wade through 400 pages of red herrings to find out I was wrong.
I loved Ann-Marie MacDonald's previous book, "Fall on Your Knees". This one was a disappointment. I stuck with it and forced myself to finish all 800+ pages, but it was tough. It starts really slow and when the plot finally kicks in it's dark and disturbing. The ending ultimately is more upbeat but by then it was too late for me.