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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this book until the end. I found it was a really unsatisfying conclusion to the book.
** I received a Kindle edition of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
3.5 stars rounded down to 3 because I need a conclusion in my books!
Meredith Oliver is on her way home from school one day when she decides to stop at The Deli Barn and reward herself with a root beer. When she walks in Lisa Bellow is at the counter ordering 2 sandwiches. Meredith is familiar with Lisa, although they are not friends. Lisa is one of the "popular" girls at their middle school and Meredith feels incredibly inferior. Lisa has never been to Meredith, with the exception of one summer day years ago. Meredith is intrigued by Lisa and her friends and would love to fit in with them, but she just doesn't understand their trendy clothes or the way they seem to speak down to people. While the girls are in the Deli Barn a masked gunman comes in and orders the girls down on the floor. He attempts to rob the store and on his way out, kidnaps Lisa. Meredith is left alone and must come to terms with the fact that she was the girl left behind. Her family is very close knit, however they are just getting over an event with her older brother that affected everyone. The way Meredith and her family deal with the robbery and almost kidnapping is the main focus of the story.
I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book. One chapter in particular which was almost a flashback (sparing details so no spoilers) was so unexpected it stopped me in my tracks, but I had to keep reading. The story was both suspenseful and heartwarming. I wanted to reach the end to be able to fully understand what I was reading. I loved the family dynamics and especially the relationship between Meredith and her brother Evan. I would forget how old Meredith was until certain things she and Evan did reminded me that she was only a 13 year old middle schooler. I think the way every character acted was very realistic. I never found myself doubting how anyone was acting, right down to the custodian from the middle school. The one tiny thing I questioned was the sleepover at the end of the story. I felt like Meredith's parents would have been more protective about letting her sleep over her friend's house and spoken to the other set of parents. I know Meredith's mother Claire was going through a lot at that moment, but I still feel like they should have followed up more than they did.
So, why not 4 stars? Usually a book that I read in a week and find hard to put down would get 4 stars. Unfortunately for this book, I need an ending! I don't like to be left hanging. I needed a more definite answer which is the reason for 3 1/2 stars.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.
3.5 stars rounded down to 3 because I need a conclusion in my books!
Meredith Oliver is on her way home from school one day when she decides to stop at The Deli Barn and reward herself with a root beer. When she walks in Lisa Bellow is at the counter ordering 2 sandwiches. Meredith is familiar with Lisa, although they are not friends. Lisa is one of the "popular" girls at their middle school and Meredith feels incredibly inferior. Lisa has never been to Meredith, with the exception of one summer day years ago. Meredith is intrigued by Lisa and her friends and would love to fit in with them, but she just doesn't understand their trendy clothes or the way they seem to speak down to people. While the girls are in the Deli Barn a masked gunman comes in and orders the girls down on the floor. He attempts to rob the store and on his way out, kidnaps Lisa. Meredith is left alone and must come to terms with the fact that she was the girl left behind. Her family is very close knit, however they are just getting over an event with her older brother that affected everyone. The way Meredith and her family deal with the robbery and almost kidnapping is the main focus of the story.
I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book. One chapter in particular which was almost a flashback (sparing details so no spoilers) was so unexpected it stopped me in my tracks, but I had to keep reading. The story was both suspenseful and heartwarming. I wanted to reach the end to be able to fully understand what I was reading. I loved the family dynamics and especially the relationship between Meredith and her brother Evan. I would forget how old Meredith was until certain things she and Evan did reminded me that she was only a 13 year old middle schooler. I think the way every character acted was very realistic. I never found myself doubting how anyone was acting, right down to the custodian from the middle school. The one tiny thing I questioned was the sleepover at the end of the story. I felt like Meredith's parents would have been more protective about letting her sleep over her friend's house and spoken to the other set of parents. I know Meredith's mother Claire was going through a lot at that moment, but I still feel like they should have followed up more than they did.
So, why not 4 stars? Usually a book that I read in a week and find hard to put down would get 4 stars. Unfortunately for this book, I need an ending! I don't like to be left hanging. I needed a more definite answer which is the reason for 3 1/2 stars.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.
This author really likes her metaphors. They're mostly very good metaphors that you read and think, yeah, that is what that feeling is like! Still, there were so many I felt like I was being buried in a pile of metaphors, some of which were paragraphs long.
Also, as a warning, the plot can basically be summed up in the words of Phoebe Buffay*: "It's a sucky life and just when you think it can't suck any more it does."
*The One Where Old Yeller Dies
Also, as a warning, the plot can basically be summed up in the words of Phoebe Buffay*: "It's a sucky life and just when you think it can't suck any more it does."
*The One Where Old Yeller Dies
Not great. Not terrible. No resolution just left me annoyed and waiting for more answers.
Interesting & thought provoking. The older brother's story felt a bit like a distraction from the main thrust of the novel at times, but the core family and their relationships were very well done. FTC disclosure, Inreceived this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
Meredith hates Lisa. They're both in a deli shop when it gets robbed. Lisa is kidnapped. The book follows the aftermath. A psychological drama that explores the trauma of survivor's guilt, and the families. A good read.
So many novels follow the girl taken or the police officer charged with finding her. Instead this story follows the girl not taken, Meredith. After witnessing a robbery and the kidnapping of the most popular mean girl in school, Meredith goes home to deal with her personal aftermath. Meanwhile, her mother Claire is trying to cope with not only the almost kidnapping of her daughter but also the loss of her son's sight in one eye and the end of his dream to be a baseball player along with her own unrest with her marriage. While at some points I felt like the book was trying to take on too many issues, I'll admit I enjoyed both points of view and came to feel that they did a great job of balancing each other out. I also really liked that Ms. Perabo did not end the book with a nice tidy bow.
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not quite ready to accept that I'm the mom. That when I read a mother-daughter relationship novel, I'm the old mildly psychotic mother and not the troubled teen.
This was interesting. I was worried it would be tough to read, but the trauma was largely after the fact. Some excellent literary techniques used to good advantage, but the repetition got to me. But then- life is repetitive, too.
Man. I am the mom.
This was interesting. I was worried it would be tough to read, but the trauma was largely after the fact. Some excellent literary techniques used to good advantage, but the repetition got to me. But then- life is repetitive, too.
Man. I am the mom.
Reader Beware: Racism, Slut shaming, mean popular girls, fat shaming, ablism, dysfunctional white family, white privledge, cliche single mom, talk of rape, off scene rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, and a bullshit nonending.
I was interested in this book because I love mysteries, running through all possible scenarios with my anxiety, and was never a popular girl.
It starts off promising, red flags start waving, and then it downright pisses me off. I hate-read the rest to find out what happened. What happens? NOTHING!
Chicken shit whitey couldn't work out the magical realism, waved it off as a mental problem, and not-so-merrily they drove off leaving Lisa Bellow a cold case. WTF?
Ugh. Such an absolute waste that I must warn everyone away from.
Racism: rumors about every black employee is a murderer and did hard time. These are the only black people. Steven, MC's crush, does a racist Haitian accent in their Social Studies class.
Slut shaming: absolutely every girl slut shames the popular girls. The mom names it in her head but doesn't say shit to correct them.
Talk of rape: There's this really disturbing passage how MC ponders if Lisa Bellow was still a virgin, ‘if she realized her worth and withheld some to save it for high school popularity ’ but either way, she's definitely not a virgin anymore. Creepy as shit. Yet not the creepiest part of the book.
Fat shaming : MC waxes on about popularity a lot. More than like every other YA I feel. Part of that is her saying she's overweight by 10 lbs but there's some people that are just too fat and stay at the bottom of the hierarchy forever. It's this disgusting justification of social norms but she's not like a total bitch like the popular girls. She'd totally be a benevolent dictator of the school social form *eyeroll*
Cliche Single Mom : Holy fuck, why does every single mom turn out to be poor trash who has a sordid history with men trying to hook a man and recapture her youth? I mean she wishes for a tropical vacation w her daughter so they can wear bikinis and pick up men together on the beach! I have literally never met a single one like this and I am one.
Dysfunctional white well off family: I got so sick if these two trading off bitching about their family and how they're all against each other. It was interesting in the beginning but I wanted to go down the mystery path instead of this angsty "literary" uselessness. Family therapy and couples counseling is seriously needed. We don't even get to find out what happens with them, so what was the fucking point?
Oh and if you think your dentist is harming you for no reason on purpose, they probably are.
Good fucking riddance to this damn book.
I was interested in this book because I love mysteries, running through all possible scenarios with my anxiety, and was never a popular girl.
It starts off promising, red flags start waving, and then it downright pisses me off. I hate-read the rest to find out what happened. What happens? NOTHING!
Chicken shit whitey couldn't work out the magical realism, waved it off as a mental problem, and not-so-merrily they drove off leaving Lisa Bellow a cold case. WTF?
Ugh. Such an absolute waste that I must warn everyone away from.
Racism: rumors about every black employee is a murderer and did hard time. These are the only black people. Steven, MC's crush, does a racist Haitian accent in their Social Studies class.
Slut shaming: absolutely every girl slut shames the popular girls. The mom names it in her head but doesn't say shit to correct them.
Talk of rape: There's this really disturbing passage how MC ponders if Lisa Bellow was still a virgin, ‘if she realized her worth and withheld some to save it for high school popularity ’ but either way, she's definitely not a virgin anymore. Creepy as shit. Yet not the creepiest part of the book.
Fat shaming : MC waxes on about popularity a lot. More than like every other YA I feel. Part of that is her saying she's overweight by 10 lbs but there's some people that are just too fat and stay at the bottom of the hierarchy forever. It's this disgusting justification of social norms but she's not like a total bitch like the popular girls. She'd totally be a benevolent dictator of the school social form *eyeroll*
Cliche Single Mom : Holy fuck, why does every single mom turn out to be poor trash who has a sordid history with men trying to hook a man and recapture her youth? I mean she wishes for a tropical vacation w her daughter so they can wear bikinis and pick up men together on the beach! I have literally never met a single one like this and I am one.
Dysfunctional white well off family: I got so sick if these two trading off bitching about their family and how they're all against each other. It was interesting in the beginning but I wanted to go down the mystery path instead of this angsty "literary" uselessness. Family therapy and couples counseling is seriously needed. We don't even get to find out what happens with them, so what was the fucking point?
Oh and if you think your dentist is harming you for no reason on purpose, they probably are.
Good fucking riddance to this damn book.
Initially, I was quite taken with this one, which revolves around the survivor quilt of an adolescent girl, Meredith, who was allowed to live following a hostage situation. The author has nailed the prevailing emotions of those early teen years! Although the term ‘middle school’ was after my time, I do remember the savagery of the ‘popular girls’, the cliques, the humiliations and feelings of inadequacy. The author captures how abruptly things change when a child crosses that threshold!
‘Turned out, what happened in elementary school stayed in elementary school. In sixth grade the playing field lurched to an impossible angle, How did it happen, the summer between fifth and sixth grade, how could it happen so abruptly that a level playing field could tilt so violently, tilt precisely like the Titanic, in a matter of hours the night before the first day of sixth grade?’
Meredith’s mother was Claire, and her plight was handled well, as the reader glimpsed her sense of helplessness in coping with an understandably changed Meredith. I liked other dynamics, too – Claire’s fierce, obvious love for her children, Meredith’s endearing older brother Evan and his efforts reach his sister even as he struggled with a huge challenge of his own.
However as novel progressed, with the protagonist Meredith reliving various scenarios which might have ensued, these became somewhat confusing and drawn out. And to me, the mother of the other girl, who was never found, wasn’t convincing. Palpable grief and depth of desperation just seemed absent, although she was indeed a pathetic character. Food for thought here, yes, and I’m glad I read it, but this won’t rank among my favorites. Almost four stars.
‘Turned out, what happened in elementary school stayed in elementary school. In sixth grade the playing field lurched to an impossible angle, How did it happen, the summer between fifth and sixth grade, how could it happen so abruptly that a level playing field could tilt so violently, tilt precisely like the Titanic, in a matter of hours the night before the first day of sixth grade?’
Meredith’s mother was Claire, and her plight was handled well, as the reader glimpsed her sense of helplessness in coping with an understandably changed Meredith. I liked other dynamics, too – Claire’s fierce, obvious love for her children, Meredith’s endearing older brother Evan and his efforts reach his sister even as he struggled with a huge challenge of his own.
However as novel progressed, with the protagonist Meredith reliving various scenarios which might have ensued, these became somewhat confusing and drawn out. And to me, the mother of the other girl, who was never found, wasn’t convincing. Palpable grief and depth of desperation just seemed absent, although she was indeed a pathetic character. Food for thought here, yes, and I’m glad I read it, but this won’t rank among my favorites. Almost four stars.