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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
This was a book I would have read in one sitting if life and obligations hadn't gotten in my way.
Rust & Stardust is the second book by T. Greenwood that I've read and I had to go back and check what I'd rated the other title because it hadn't stayed with me. This story will not require follow-up. It haunts me.
Rust & Stardust is a novel based on the true kidnapping of 11-year old Sally Horner by 52-year old Frank LaSalle from Camden, New Jersey in 1948. It combines most of my favorite things: True Crime, Historical Fiction, beautifully evocative writing and a clear and memorable voice. I did not know that this kidnapping was the basis of the character depiction for "Lolita" in Nabokov's famous book of the same title. I also did know know much about this famous crime.
T. Greenwood masterfully depicts what everyday life might have been for Sally. She invents fully evolved characters to accompany her on what can only be described as a harrowing journey.
While not for everyone-this is a book I will gleefully recommend to "My People".
*ARC received from #netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
That being said, the writing is compelling, the language beautiful, and the characters well-developed. I was worried with a story about something like this that it just wouldn't feel finished, it wouldn't deal with the aftermath; but this felt complete. Tragic, but complete. I'd recommend it to others because it is good literature but certainly not because it was enjoyable.
Edited to add: It’s been a few days and I’m still gutted. I have to agree with a friend’s review of this. It’s hard to read. Really hard, but at the same time you don’t want to leave her alone so you stay with her until the end. I read this in one sitting. I felt guilty if I went to fill my glass of water. I just wanted to reach in and save her over and over again.
― Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Rust & Stardust is the fictionalized retailing of the abduction of Sally Horner (1937-1952) at the age of 11 in 1948.
While Greenwood has given us a good, quick read, it is by no means an easy one. I spend a good majority of the book heartbroken and angry. Angry at everyone who stayed quite looking away, telling themselves it was a "personal matter" and better left alone. When you look at the actual history of this girl while on this cross-country nightmare she was enrolled in different schools and was seen by different people who paid no mind because it wasn't their concern. Then I became mad at myself, knowing I on many occasions have done the same and know that I must do better. But I digress, back to the book.
Having read Lolita myself I never realize ideas for it was taken from real life. I vaguely remember the line "(Had I done to Dolly, perhaps, what Frank LaSalle, a fifty-year-old mechanic, had done to eleven-year-old Sally Horner in 1948?). But never gave it much thought, didn't even think they were real people. But now from this book, I know otherwise.
As tragic as this book is, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. A powerful book for today climate. You'll wonder what would lead a mother to hand her child off to a complete stranger. The book also touches a bit on victim shaming, both in dealing with suicides and assault victims. Making you think twice before uttering the words "Well, why didn't they...."
I did find myself skimming and hurrying through certain parts, but not because I felt bored but because I needed to know what happened. But there was also one or two parts I skipped because to me had no bearing on the story at large.
But either way, this was a page-turner that kept me up til 4am each night reading, having to take time to process what I read.
"And the rest is rust and stardust"
― Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Received an ARC of the book from Shelf Awareness and St. Martin's Press
What a tragic novel, about a tragic life. There should be no surprise going in that this is a very sad novel, about the life of Sally Horner, the inspiration behind Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Sally is slyly abducted from her life in Camden, NJ, after she steals a notebook on a dare from classmates and is apprehended by a man who tells her he is with the FBI. The events that follow are equally unbelievable and upsetting.
T. Greenwood pulls from the facts of real events, but adds her own take on what might have happened in between the stark realities we know from Sally's case. Points of view swap between Sally, her mother, her sister, and other people Sally encounters throughout her harrowing journey. The changing around of POV lent interesting perspectives to Sally's story. Alongside the horror of Sally's life in Frank LaSalle's clutches, we have Sally's mother wondering why Sally would have gone with this man, Sally's sister Ella worrying about her sister as well as her young child, and various sympathetic characters who meet Sally and realize that something isn't right.
I had never heard of Sally Horner before picking up this book, so I was on the edge of my seat as her story progressed, amazed at how many opportunities passed by where someone, even Sally herself, could have saved her from her situation. In the beginning, I found myself frustrated as Sally let her politeness and fear of authority and the law keep her from saying anything to anyone until it was almost too late. I bristled at the myriad suggestions that characters made that Sally had done this to herself by going "willingly" and that she had a part in the blame for the sexual acts LaSalle forced on her. As much as I wanted to blame these things on Sally being a young girl in 1948, these same issues could be keeping girls today from getting the help that they need.
I hesitate to give Rust and Stardust a full five stars because I thought that Sally's reasoning for not escaping or telling someone about her situation was not written very convincingly, and Sally's inner monologue throughout this whole book did not quite ring true for me. She's constantly confused by LaSalle's identity and why he is doing these things to her, but her thoughts never made this inner conflict very clear. Obviously, LaSalle deluded the real Sally Horner for years, but I felt it could have been written more convincingly than it was here.
As heartbreaking as Rust and Stardust is, I felt that T. Greenwood did well at not using the abuse that Sally endured for their shock factor. There were abuse scenes that were nauseating and starkly painted, illustrating Sally's fear and shame, but brief and non-graphic. Even throughout all the hardships that Sally had to bear throughout her captivity, I was touched by the notes of hope throughout the novel. Sally finds friends in unlikely places - a traveling circus member, her next door neighbor in her trailer park, a friend in her school whom she dares to tell her real name. These are mostly details fabricated by Greenwood, but I hope that the real Sally was able to find these lights in a dark sky too.
It was an interesting story but a but bland to me. It lacked a certain something to really draw me in. It is an easy read and I know many people will enjoy it.