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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
This book definitely held my attention. I love the complexity of Ty.
Reread 2/13/2020:
I'm glad I had the chance to reread this. I wasn't reading so frantically this time, so I had the opportunity to appreciate the complexities of Christopher's writing. She doesn't leave the reader with an easy answer about right vs. wrong — there are elements of the situation that are clearly very wrong, but given that the last book our book club read was An Untamed State, well... this can't help but seem almost idyllic in comparison.
When Gemma was first brought to the house, I started thinking about the experience of a foster child brought into a new home, and I kept that lens throughout the book, which was fascinating to think about. It raises questions about what the difference really is — we're putting a child with people they don't know and keeping them there, and if that family adopts them then we expect them to develop real affection for those new parents. Other than having some fits of temper, Ty acts a lot like a foster parent or an adoptive parent of an older child, reiterating how much he loves Gemma and hopes she'll come to love her new home, and trying to take care of her while also locking her in a room or restraining her when she tries to hurt him or herself. I'm hoping to dive into that perspective with my book club!
What I said previously about the beautiful nature writing and the complexity of human emotion still stands. Definitely a good book for reading and discussing.
--
4.5 stars. The whole time I was reading this, I was thinking that how I felt about the book would ultimately come down to how it ended. There were so many ways for it to go wrong. Now, having seen how well Christopher ended the book, I feel like maybe I didn't appreciate the rest of the book as much as I could have.
The writing is excellent. She has such attention to detail, while also being able to paint a broad and vivid picture of nature — its beauty and its brutality. She also captures the range of human emotion well, as well as the narrator's thoughts about her own emotions. There were a few spots where I felt like stuff was glossed over ("I don't know why I feel this way, but I'm not going to think about it"), but it didn't detract from the book too much. The complexity of the subject matter was handled well, I thought.
I disagree with the assessment that we're supposed to fall for Ty from the beginning, or at least I didn't. I kept thinking, please, don't let this end with her falling in love with him and them living happily ever after. All the way up to the snakebite, I thought, no, don't let it go in this direction. But then, when I heard he was being arrested and taken to prison, I thought, wait, wait, no, just let him go back to his little house in the desert! He's not going to hurt anyone there! Just let him live the life he wants to live! And in that way, Christopher got me. I ended up conflicted, and that's what made the book so good.
This would be an excellent book club read. There's a lot here to discuss and debate. I would recommend this book to anyone for an engaging read.
I'm glad I had the chance to reread this. I wasn't reading so frantically this time, so I had the opportunity to appreciate the complexities of Christopher's writing. She doesn't leave the reader with an easy answer about right vs. wrong — there are elements of the situation that are clearly very wrong, but given that the last book our book club read was An Untamed State, well... this can't help but seem almost idyllic in comparison.
When Gemma was first brought to the house, I started thinking about the experience of a foster child brought into a new home, and I kept that lens throughout the book, which was fascinating to think about. It raises questions about what the difference really is — we're putting a child with people they don't know and keeping them there, and if that family adopts them then we expect them to develop real affection for those new parents. Other than having some fits of temper, Ty acts a lot like a foster parent or an adoptive parent of an older child, reiterating how much he loves Gemma and hopes she'll come to love her new home, and trying to take care of her while also locking her in a room or restraining her when she tries to hurt him or herself. I'm hoping to dive into that perspective with my book club!
What I said previously about the beautiful nature writing and the complexity of human emotion still stands. Definitely a good book for reading and discussing.
--
4.5 stars. The whole time I was reading this, I was thinking that how I felt about the book would ultimately come down to how it ended. There were so many ways for it to go wrong. Now, having seen how well Christopher ended the book, I feel like maybe I didn't appreciate the rest of the book as much as I could have.
The writing is excellent. She has such attention to detail, while also being able to paint a broad and vivid picture of nature — its beauty and its brutality. She also captures the range of human emotion well, as well as the narrator's thoughts about her own emotions. There were a few spots where I felt like stuff was glossed over ("I don't know why I feel this way, but I'm not going to think about it"), but it didn't detract from the book too much. The complexity of the subject matter was handled well, I thought.
This would be an excellent book club read. There's a lot here to discuss and debate. I would recommend this book to anyone for an engaging read.
Beautiful, captivating, breath taking. I just loved it.
It's very interesting to read this novel while simultaneously reading "Half the Sky," a novel about gender discrimination and abuse suffered by women across the world. This dichotomy may have led me to have a different experience of "Stolen" as someone picking it up and reading it, and it alone. It won an honor for excellence in Young Adult novels recently, too, so go Lucy Christopher.
This was one of my first experiences with audiobooks (well, completing an audiobook would be more apt), and I would highly recommend the format for this book. The story is told from the main character's (Gemma) perspective, and I imagine it would get tiring in print format.
Gemma is a 16 year-old Londoner on her way to a family holiday in Vietnam. While on a layover in Bangkok, she meets the beautiful Ty in a coffee shop. He seems vaguely familiar, but he's hot and old enough to make her feel like she's doing something naughty by talking to him, so she agrees to share a table with him. Flash forward a couple hours and Gemma wakes up in the middle of a barren Australian desert, with no one and nothing for miles around...except Ty.
The novel is fascinating, as it gives a first person perspective of someone succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome. Gemma is forced to rely on Ty for every basic necessity, all the while worrying about if he was going to kill her at any moment. One of the draws about this novel is that it's supposed to take you into S.S. with Gemma, so that you are equally as drawn to Ty as she is.
I didn't go there with her. The whole time I was thinking, "What an effing psycho..." My sister, who was also reading it, would ask me where I was and then ask, "Aren't you so pissed that Gemma hasn't yet realized that Ty isn't going to hurt her?" And I would always reply no. I was terrified for Gemma. Part of this may be because of past experiences of near-brushes with obsessive guys. It's honestly scary to me to think about how any one of those encounters could have turned into a situation like this. So what if Ty is ripped and handsome? It's still horrific.
Another part of me was wondering if I wasn't more outraged by the plot because this is a pretty common plot device in romance novels. Young, beautiful girl espied by a handsome man who uses his power (physical or monetary) to steal her away. At first she is recalcitrant, but then the sex is great and she's won over.
The writing is wonderful, though. Gemma is the epitome of an unreliable narrator and her voice is compelling. Lucy Christopher does well to make me actually finish a book whose premise made me sick to my stomach. I would recommend this book, just think of it like a contemporary (and not Nabokov) "Lolita."
This was one of my first experiences with audiobooks (well, completing an audiobook would be more apt), and I would highly recommend the format for this book. The story is told from the main character's (Gemma) perspective, and I imagine it would get tiring in print format.
Gemma is a 16 year-old Londoner on her way to a family holiday in Vietnam. While on a layover in Bangkok, she meets the beautiful Ty in a coffee shop. He seems vaguely familiar, but he's hot and old enough to make her feel like she's doing something naughty by talking to him, so she agrees to share a table with him. Flash forward a couple hours and Gemma wakes up in the middle of a barren Australian desert, with no one and nothing for miles around...except Ty.
The novel is fascinating, as it gives a first person perspective of someone succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome. Gemma is forced to rely on Ty for every basic necessity, all the while worrying about if he was going to kill her at any moment. One of the draws about this novel is that it's supposed to take you into S.S. with Gemma, so that you are equally as drawn to Ty as she is.
I didn't go there with her. The whole time I was thinking, "What an effing psycho..." My sister, who was also reading it, would ask me where I was and then ask, "Aren't you so pissed that Gemma hasn't yet realized that Ty isn't going to hurt her?" And I would always reply no. I was terrified for Gemma. Part of this may be because of past experiences of near-brushes with obsessive guys. It's honestly scary to me to think about how any one of those encounters could have turned into a situation like this. So what if Ty is ripped and handsome? It's still horrific.
Another part of me was wondering if I wasn't more outraged by the plot because this is a pretty common plot device in romance novels. Young, beautiful girl espied by a handsome man who uses his power (physical or monetary) to steal her away. At first she is recalcitrant, but then the sex is great and she's won over.
The writing is wonderful, though. Gemma is the epitome of an unreliable narrator and her voice is compelling. Lucy Christopher does well to make me actually finish a book whose premise made me sick to my stomach. I would recommend this book, just think of it like a contemporary (and not Nabokov) "Lolita."
I have mixed feelings about this book. Let me explain why ...
*spoilers*
Unlike a lot of other people, I had a hard time understanding Ty. After watching so many documentaries about kidnapped girls, hearing stories like '3096 Tage', ... I couldn't bring up any respect for him.
After a while, that changed, because he never really did something to her that she didn't want - besides not letting her go ofcourse.
That didn't mean that I was rooting for them to be a couple, hell no, that would've been so unrealistic and weird. But I admit, the ending was very touching and sad, and maybe I was hoping that it was different. But never ever have I hoped that she would fall in love with him: imagine them telling their kids the story of how they met each other!
*lots of spoilers*
At the beginning you might think that this is just a story about a girl getting kidnapped and having the Stockholm syndrome, but that's really not it.
What makes this story different is that he - Ty - was obsessed with her, but even though he was, he still treated her right. He was nice to her and besides kidnapping her, he did no harm to her. The fact that he brings her to the hospital - knowing that he will go to jail - proves that.
That's why I'm having these sort of mixed feelings. Is this realistic? Ty is obviously mentally ill - otherwise he wouldn't kidnap her! He is incredibly selfish, because he WANTS her for his own, like she's an object! But he would give up the life he wants, to make sure she lives. And that's not selfish at all.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book. But I think there are a lot of people that are a bigger fan than me. Maybe it's - like I said before - because of all the documentaries I watched about girls that were kept prisoned for many years. Maybe it's just because I'm used to books with more characters.
[sorry for my English]
*spoilers*
Unlike a lot of other people, I had a hard time understanding Ty. After watching so many documentaries about kidnapped girls, hearing stories like '3096 Tage', ... I couldn't bring up any respect for him.
After a while, that changed, because he never really did something to her that she didn't want - besides not letting her go ofcourse.
That didn't mean that I was rooting for them to be a couple, hell no, that would've been so unrealistic and weird. But I admit, the ending was very touching and sad, and maybe I was hoping that it was different. But never ever have I hoped that she would fall in love with him: imagine them telling their kids the story of how they met each other!
*lots of spoilers*
At the beginning you might think that this is just a story about a girl getting kidnapped and having the Stockholm syndrome, but that's really not it.
What makes this story different is that he - Ty - was obsessed with her, but even though he was, he still treated her right. He was nice to her and besides kidnapping her, he did no harm to her. The fact that he brings her to the hospital - knowing that he will go to jail - proves that.
That's why I'm having these sort of mixed feelings. Is this realistic? Ty is obviously mentally ill - otherwise he wouldn't kidnap her! He is incredibly selfish, because he WANTS her for his own, like she's an object! But he would give up the life he wants, to make sure she lives. And that's not selfish at all.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book. But I think there are a lot of people that are a bigger fan than me. Maybe it's - like I said before - because of all the documentaries I watched about girls that were kept prisoned for many years. Maybe it's just because I'm used to books with more characters.
[sorry for my English]
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise of the book: Gemma is a sixteen year old girl from London who is kidnapped from the Bangkok airport while she is on holiday with her parents. She is taken to one of the remotest places on Earth - the Australian Outback - the part where no one lives, no one goes to, barely anyone even knows about the expansiveness of some regions of Australia. Ty, the kidnapper, is young, fit, good-looking, and resourceful...and he's a kidnapper, so he's also disturbed and delusional. The characters are very well-written...so well-written that at times I felt like I was reading a work of non-fiction.
Gemma is sixteen, and like any sixteen year old, her emotions run wild. Plus, she's a sixteen year old in a frightening situation, so her emotions are even more unbalanced. She ranges from terrified to courageous, conflicted to determined, confused to idiotic, gullible to irrational, simplistic to complex, numb to over-emotional.
Ty is a little more unrealistic...but again, he's a kidnapper so he's not exactly "normal". He is convinced that if he takes care of Gemma, she will fall in love with him and want to stay with him. So, the book deals with the Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim begins to warm to their perpetrator.
I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to give away any spoilers, and I think it's a book best read in a way where a reader is allowed to draw their own conclusions and opinions. It's a thought-provoking book, a quick read (I read it in 2 or 3 days), and I highly recommend it.
Gemma is sixteen, and like any sixteen year old, her emotions run wild. Plus, she's a sixteen year old in a frightening situation, so her emotions are even more unbalanced. She ranges from terrified to courageous, conflicted to determined, confused to idiotic, gullible to irrational, simplistic to complex, numb to over-emotional.
Ty is a little more unrealistic...but again, he's a kidnapper so he's not exactly "normal". He is convinced that if he takes care of Gemma, she will fall in love with him and want to stay with him. So, the book deals with the Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim begins to warm to their perpetrator.
I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to give away any spoilers, and I think it's a book best read in a way where a reader is allowed to draw their own conclusions and opinions. It's a thought-provoking book, a quick read (I read it in 2 or 3 days), and I highly recommend it.