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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
Part Lost, part Lord of the Flies, part surreal-this-can't-be-happening!
Three families, with six children among them, are on a cruise.
What begins as a day trip to a zip line turns into three families searching for their lost children.
The journey to reunite the families takes twists and turns that keep the reader engaged and breathless.
Very good.
Three families, with six children among them, are on a cruise.
What begins as a day trip to a zip line turns into three families searching for their lost children.
The journey to reunite the families takes twists and turns that keep the reader engaged and breathless.
Very good.
I read nearly the whole book in one sitting. Really difficult to put down. I know people have squawked about this being about privileged white folks, and it is. But this is fiction, they are characters and the book is a pretty gripping read, in my opinion. In a nutshell...a luxury cruise gone way bad, parents' worst nightmare come true, people making really huge human mistakes, guilt heaped upon guilt, friendship pushed to the limit, and no pretty ending. Fun, huh?
Wishing I’d skipped this one completely by halfway through, but was curious to see how the author filled the other half of the story. Eh.
Fun, fast read. Lots of suspense and fairly interesting characters. Some of the plot was far fetched and a bit cliche which is why I'm only giving 3 stars.
Meh.
On the surface, this is a fairly interesting story of a holiday cruise vacation that goes horribly wrong for two American cousins and their husbands when their children disappear in an unnamed Central American country. But I'm struggling to figure out what the POINT of the book is supposed to be.
The characters, wealthy Americans whose minor adversity is all behind them, are oblivious to the real world and turn out to be pretty shitty people once things fall apart. Their children are all kind of annoying and WAY TOO CALM in terrifying situations. The really bad things all happen to the Central/South American characters, while the Norte Americanos all walk away essentially unscathed.
What I can take away from this book:
Don't go on a zip-lining trip. Very dangerous.
Don't smile and nod when your husband decides to go golfing while you take the children on a zip-lining adventure in a foreign country. Asshole.
Don't let a van-driving Romeo who says "sexo" instead of sex, even though he otherwise speaks flawless English, diddle you in the jungle while your children play in the potentially crocodile infested river. Very bad, even though the scene was kind of funny.
Don't drink mysterious "punch" from aforementioned van-driving Romeo and then fall asleep while you're supposed to be watching your children and your cousin's children while she's "looking for birds" in the jungle with afore-aforementioned van-driving Romeo. Come on! There were people to watch them on the cruise ship.
Don't take a cruise in the first place. Yup, I think that was the entire point.
On the surface, this is a fairly interesting story of a holiday cruise vacation that goes horribly wrong for two American cousins and their husbands when their children disappear in an unnamed Central American country. But I'm struggling to figure out what the POINT of the book is supposed to be.
The characters, wealthy Americans whose minor adversity is all behind them, are oblivious to the real world and turn out to be pretty shitty people once things fall apart. Their children are all kind of annoying and WAY TOO CALM in terrifying situations. The really bad things
Spoiler
, like being shot in the head, or eaten by alligators, or raped, or dying in a car crash (even though that guy deserved it), or having your throat slit by an amped-up rape victim, or being the rape victim who now has to live with also being a murderer),What I can take away from this book:
Don't go on a zip-lining trip. Very dangerous.
Don't smile and nod when your husband decides to go golfing while you take the children on a zip-lining adventure in a foreign country. Asshole.
Don't let a van-driving Romeo who says "sexo" instead of sex, even though he otherwise speaks flawless English, diddle you in the jungle while your children play in the potentially crocodile infested river. Very bad, even though the scene was kind of funny.
Don't drink mysterious "punch" from aforementioned van-driving Romeo and then fall asleep while you're supposed to be watching your children and your cousin's children while she's "looking for birds" in the jungle with afore-aforementioned van-driving Romeo. Come on! There were people to watch them on the cruise ship.
Don't take a cruise in the first place. Yup, I think that was the entire point.
Four stars. Suspenseful, well-written, page turner, family drama
Interesting plot, and I had no problem with the characters. I appreciated the children's resilience and the different ways they processed their experiences and etc.
This was weird in that it absorbed me really quickly, even though nothing exciting happens for quite awhile, and then I couldn't put it down, but it was NOT a thriller, despite the thriller-esque twists and turns of the plot. The narration was just too detached and clinical most of the time for it to feel like a thriller, and the fact that the reader knows what is happening to basically all the characters during the whole ordeal, takes away that suspenseful mystery feeling.
Still enjoyed it. enjoyed reading some of the darker impulses and reactions of each set of parents, particularly.
This was weird in that it absorbed me really quickly, even though nothing exciting happens for quite awhile, and then I couldn't put it down, but it was NOT a thriller, despite the thriller-esque twists and turns of the plot. The narration was just too detached and clinical most of the time for it to feel like a thriller, and the fact that the reader knows what is happening to basically all the characters during the whole ordeal, takes away that suspenseful mystery feeling.
Still enjoyed it. enjoyed reading some of the darker impulses and reactions of each set of parents, particularly.
I know there have been books that have pissed me off in the past and then I look back at my review, remember how I felt about them, and am shocked to find that I gave them 3 stars.
I'm not going to make that mistake with this one.
Here's the thing. This book is not necessarily terrible. The people in it aren't awful, but they're also not great. In fact, I only liked 2-3 characters in the entire book. One of them was one of the "bad guys." Another one was a characters whose plot line actually didn't even need to exist. At all.
So, these rich families are on vacation. The moms fall asleep/are distracted. A riptide comes in, and their kids are washed away downriver.
Before I even talk about the story itself, let's discuss how implausible it is off the bat that 3 separate families have two children each, and each family has a girl and a boy. Sure, there are more fantastical things that can happen, but that just really bothered me.
I know two people who have read this book, and both pretty much hated all the characters, and the mothers especially. I didn't feel as strongly against them, though they did annoy me. I understand how, during a tragedy, there is an element of wanting to place blame on anyone or anything other than yourself. While also feeling responsible. And these women were sort of responsible, honestly. But I forgave them their emotions. What I did NOT forgive was their poor treatment of those who did want to help.
Which leads me to the thing that bothered me the most -- the white privilege rampant in the characters in this book is absolutely unbelievable. For Liv and Nora to sit there and demand that the police call in extra workers OVER THE HOLIDAYS just to work on their case is one of the most obnoxious things in the world. And I know those people exist in the world, the ones who think everything in the world should revolve around them. But that attitude, more than anything else, made me hate them. The way they talked to and about the local people also bothered me so much. And that was all of the adults. And even the kids, to some extent. Penny for example.
Oh Penny. I liked her enough at the start, but by about midway through the book I wanted to slap that child so hard. I'm sorry, but YOU HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED. I think the last thing you should do is be snotty to anyone trying to help you, OR JUMP OFF A TRAIN AND GO OFF ON YOUR OWN. I hated her. She never redeemed herself.
And here's the real tragedy of the story for me: I'm all about characters. And the characters in this book, for the most part, were so poorly drawn. The mothers had a little depth, but weren't particularly likable. The fathers were fine, but had little to no depth at all. The whole Noemi/Chuy storyline was, ultimately, absolutely pointless. As far as I can tell, their entire storyline existed for one specific moment involving another character, and I feel like that point could have been made without creating character's for the sake of making it.
It is sad that the most likable character in the entire story is George, who is technically one of the abductors of the children. And the author had to go and even tarnish my view of him in the book. And made him act in a way that seemed incredibly uncharacteristic of him as he had been portrayed up to that point. Which was super annoying.
I just don't think any of the characters or the plot were fleshed out well enough. And there was a SUPER weird scene where Nora and her husband resolve a conflict involving a very strange interaction in a hospital broom closet. I just....I can't.
I think there's a lot to discuss, and I think I would actually really like to discuss this book with someone who legitimately liked it. I just thought there were too many inherent issues with it to rate it higher.
I'm not going to make that mistake with this one.
Here's the thing. This book is not necessarily terrible. The people in it aren't awful, but they're also not great. In fact, I only liked 2-3 characters in the entire book. One of them was one of the "bad guys." Another one was a characters whose plot line actually didn't even need to exist. At all.
So, these rich families are on vacation. The moms fall asleep/are distracted. A riptide comes in, and their kids are washed away downriver.
Before I even talk about the story itself, let's discuss how implausible it is off the bat that 3 separate families have two children each, and each family has a girl and a boy. Sure, there are more fantastical things that can happen, but that just really bothered me.
I know two people who have read this book, and both pretty much hated all the characters, and the mothers especially. I didn't feel as strongly against them, though they did annoy me. I understand how, during a tragedy, there is an element of wanting to place blame on anyone or anything other than yourself. While also feeling responsible. And these women were sort of responsible, honestly. But I forgave them their emotions. What I did NOT forgive was their poor treatment of those who did want to help.
Which leads me to the thing that bothered me the most -- the white privilege rampant in the characters in this book is absolutely unbelievable. For Liv and Nora to sit there and demand that the police call in extra workers OVER THE HOLIDAYS just to work on their case is one of the most obnoxious things in the world. And I know those people exist in the world, the ones who think everything in the world should revolve around them. But that attitude, more than anything else, made me hate them. The way they talked to and about the local people also bothered me so much. And that was all of the adults. And even the kids, to some extent. Penny for example.
Oh Penny. I liked her enough at the start, but by about midway through the book I wanted to slap that child so hard. I'm sorry, but YOU HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED. I think the last thing you should do is be snotty to anyone trying to help you, OR JUMP OFF A TRAIN AND GO OFF ON YOUR OWN. I hated her. She never redeemed herself.
And here's the real tragedy of the story for me: I'm all about characters. And the characters in this book, for the most part, were so poorly drawn. The mothers had a little depth, but weren't particularly likable. The fathers were fine, but had little to no depth at all. The whole Noemi/Chuy storyline was, ultimately, absolutely pointless. As far as I can tell, their entire storyline existed for one specific moment involving another character, and I feel like that point could have been made without creating character's for the sake of making it.
It is sad that the most likable character in the entire story is George, who is technically one of the abductors of the children. And the author had to go and even tarnish my view of him in the book. And made him act in a way that seemed incredibly uncharacteristic of him as he had been portrayed up to that point. Which was super annoying.
I just don't think any of the characters or the plot were fleshed out well enough. And there was a SUPER weird scene where Nora and her husband resolve a conflict involving a very strange interaction in a hospital broom closet. I just....I can't.
I think there's a lot to discuss, and I think I would actually really like to discuss this book with someone who legitimately liked it. I just thought there were too many inherent issues with it to rate it higher.
This one fell a bit flat for me. The suspense was muddied by the multiple perspectives, it felt jumpy and inconsistent (and, while I liked Noemi, her 2 measly chapters seemed very out of place. I liked her a lot though, this would have been a much better book if told entirely from her perspective). Overall I think this book highlighted the ignorance and smugness of well-to-do Americans at the expense of what could have been an engaging story.
4.5 but I want to sit with it before I decide my thoughts. BUT YAY FOR NEW MAILE MELOY!