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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
Terrible - don't waste your time. The plot had so much promise but it was just a mishmash of trauma without any discernable conclusion.
I really thought I would like this. I really didn't. The characters were unlikable to the point that I was rooting against them, waiting for some horrific event to happen. So I had to rush through it and put it down.
I had such high hopes for this novel after devouring "Why They Run the Way They Do" but I was disappointed. The writing is beautiful and the details are fabulous... Perabo gets a lot right. But there's a lot that I didn't love. It started strong but petered out after about the first third. I skimmed the final third because it was just so slow. While I loved the alternating perspective between Claire and Meredith, I did not love the scenes Meredith invented about Lisa's capture; I don't think they added anything to the story. I wish we could have seen more of Meredith's interior life as it pertained to the shifting social dynamics that took place at school after the trauma. In general, I wish it had more tension beyond the first third. I'm not going to give up on Perabo, though. I still love the way she writes.
This book doesn’t have an ending nor does it go back and explain anything that happened in the entire book.
Honestly, what the hell is this ending?!? What happens to Lisa Bellow? Why is Claire even important? What does Evan and his blindness have to do with anything. Until the last chapter this book was great. Seriously disappointed.
Although this book was very well written, I didn’t see the point of this story. It just made very little sense to me. Too bad.
2 stars for the story, rounded up to 3 for the writing.
I usually don't mind a meandering family drama, but this one was just so sloooooowww. And, zero resolution at the end. I skimmed the last half of the book.
I usually don't mind a meandering family drama, but this one was just so sloooooowww. And, zero resolution at the end. I skimmed the last half of the book.
The author's technique is so accessible that slipping into this story is like snuggling into a much loved sweater. Not that the story is warm -- or comfortable. But the story is utterly believable, with characters and story that will resonate long after the book is finished.
Young Meredith walks into a sandwich store at precisely the wrong moment. The only other patron is Lisa Bellow, her middle school's top Mean Girl and Meredith's nemesis. Moments later, the store is robbed and Lisa is abducted, and Meredith is left behind. The trauma of surviving the abduction has a ripple effect on Meredith's life, her family, and those around her.
The point of view alternates between Meredith and her mother and it's fascinating to see what each doesn't tell the other. A beautifully written page-turner that explores the intricacies of family dynamics as well as survivor guilt.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the e-review copy of this book.
Young Meredith walks into a sandwich store at precisely the wrong moment. The only other patron is Lisa Bellow, her middle school's top Mean Girl and Meredith's nemesis. Moments later, the store is robbed and Lisa is abducted, and Meredith is left behind. The trauma of surviving the abduction has a ripple effect on Meredith's life, her family, and those around her.
The point of view alternates between Meredith and her mother and it's fascinating to see what each doesn't tell the other. A beautifully written page-turner that explores the intricacies of family dynamics as well as survivor guilt.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the e-review copy of this book.
I give almost every book 50 pages. I didn't think I would continue. But it kept nagging me, so I gave it another 50. By then, I was invested in the answer to the question! And I flew through the next 250 pages. What ended up drawing me in was the arc of the mother's story. I really related to her: the angst of bringing who one is into family dynamics when they're shifting and being exposed with teenagers in the home. There's so many layers in a family when tragedy strikes. This mother, as I, deals with what she can bring to the table, her fears and longing for her daughter, and her response to the tragedy. That is a lot to wade through. Perabo does a good job of representing that journey without dragging us through it too much, as she does with several of the characters. But is the reader provided with answers? Should we be? I leave those questions hanging.