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nancidrum's review against another edition
3.0
Normally I love Chris Bohjalian's books. They usually earn 4 or even 5 stars from me (The Double Bind, and Midwives). This book is a stretch for 3 stars.
The voice of the protagonist is just off. I wanted to like Emily so much and I found valor in many of the things she did to survive on her own, but no way was her voice that of a 16 year old. Maybe a 12 year old, but not a 16 year old.
Usually Bohjalian has an "aha" moment or two in his books, but there really wasn't anything here.
The genre was not distinct at all. Sometimes it read like an adult novel, but other times it read so much like YA. I would never recommend it for YA, due to the cursing and the poor choices Emily makes. Books that are given to me are normally passed along to friends to enjoy. If you still want to give this a try, let me know and it's yours.
The voice of the protagonist is just off. I wanted to like Emily so much and I found valor in many of the things she did to survive on her own, but no way was her voice that of a 16 year old. Maybe a 12 year old, but not a 16 year old.
Usually Bohjalian has an "aha" moment or two in his books, but there really wasn't anything here.
The genre was not distinct at all. Sometimes it read like an adult novel, but other times it read so much like YA. I would never recommend it for YA, due to the cursing and the poor choices Emily makes. Books that are given to me are normally passed along to friends to enjoy. If you still want to give this a try, let me know and it's yours.
ivyreadsalot's review against another edition
4.0
This book, as many of CB's titles, was a slow start for me, slower than usual even. But I plowed through and it finally started to pick up pace. I am so glad I kept with it because I ended up not being able to put it down. And I bawled like a baby. Which might not be a selling point for some, but to me, that means it was good. Really good.
I could relate to the main character re: the random poetry quotes. I do that, too.
Anyway, great book! You won't regret it. Once you get to the end.
I could relate to the main character re: the random poetry quotes. I do that, too.
Anyway, great book! You won't regret it. Once you get to the end.
fpmartin's review against another edition
5.0
Let me start by saying that like all Bohjalian novels, this book is exceptionally well written. In reading other reviews of "Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands," you quickly see that point as a recurring observation, whether the review is two stars or five stars. The disparity in ratings is not due to the quality of the writing, rather it comes from how we project our own personal judgments vicariously on the protagonist. The reason for this, in large part, is that the entire novel is written in a stream-of-consciousness first-person journal style from the perspective of a seventeen-year-old girl who goes through a year-long ordeal of homelessness and loss as the result of a Chernobyl-style disaster in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (if you're not from Vermont, you'll have to look up "Northeast Kingdom"). Via Bohjalian's wonderfully descriptive prose we can't help but imagine ourselves viewing Emily Shepard's trials through our own eyes, and hence we can't help but impose our own perspective and judgments on Emily's reactions and choices. And that is where the disparity comes in. To some, Emily's experiences are not credible or her thoughts, choices, and reactions are not credible. And because of that and because of the depth to which we are immersed in Emily's character, some readers will be left by the wayside. However, that is the risk that an exceptional author has to take from time to time: the risk that the intensely challenging and personal nature of the first-person internal dialog of a character will not resonate with a broad audience. That risk is also the brilliance of the book—when it connects, it really connects. As you may have concluded by now, it really connected with me. Why? Bohjalian's super-power is in the first-person narrative and to me, he makes Emily totally authentic. Her loose journal-style writing with random interjections, observations, epiphanies, and time jumps is so alive with youthful angst, recklessness, and brilliance that I felt I was transported back to that age and reliving it through her. I totally relate to her seventeen-year-old logic for running away and to her perception of people hating her. I relate to her language and rationale and self-loathing. I relate to her youthful obsessions, both intellectual and self-destructive. I relate to how she glommed on to nine-year-old Cameron and his plight. I've met people who have lived that reality. Emily and Cameron are fictional but their situations are all too real. In short, if you can tune in to the same wavelength as Emily Shepard, you will become thoroughly engrossed in her story and recognize "Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands" as, perhaps, Chris Bohjalian's most brilliant work.
lazygal's review against another edition
4.0
Why is this book being released as Adult? It's got so much teen appeal - the characters, the situation, the writing - that it just seems a natural fit for that market.
When I was much younger, I saw "The China Syndrome" mere days before the Three Mile Island meltdown, and recently, living near Indian Point and hearing all the fuss about it and its future (particularly in the face of the Fukushima Daiichi leak, this really resonated. There are a lot of good things about nuclear power, and a lot of bad things. Luckily, little time is spent here on those issues; instead the action centers on the life of Emily post-accident at a fictional plant in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. It's not an easy life, particularly given that her parents (specifically her father) may have been responsible for the problem, and perhaps that's why it's an Adult book: there are drugs, prostitution and homelessness involved. Still, given other books that have been written for YAs...
On a personal note, I loved the description of the NEK (I have family up there).
ARC provided by publisher.
When I was much younger, I saw "The China Syndrome" mere days before the Three Mile Island meltdown, and recently, living near Indian Point and hearing all the fuss about it and its future (particularly in the face of the Fukushima Daiichi leak, this really resonated. There are a lot of good things about nuclear power, and a lot of bad things. Luckily, little time is spent here on those issues; instead the action centers on the life of Emily post-accident at a fictional plant in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. It's not an easy life, particularly given that her parents (specifically her father) may have been responsible for the problem, and perhaps that's why it's an Adult book: there are drugs, prostitution and homelessness involved. Still, given other books that have been written for YAs...
On a personal note, I loved the description of the NEK (I have family up there).
ARC provided by publisher.
martysdalton's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful character writing and foreshadowing. I don't know if I think this went everywhere it could have, but "Abby Bliss" was a consistent voice from page one. Some truly powerful lines and scenes that make this worth checking out. Good commentary on themes of parenting and guilt and self-perception. My biggest takeaways had to do with expectations of others and how controlling and world-destroying they become when taken to the extremes. I think Emily, after everything, is a good person, for whatever that's worth. And I'm glad we got a conclusion to the dog's story.
maddie_eddy's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. Honestly just depressing. Beautifully written...but depressing as all hell.
jenibus's review against another edition
4.0
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands could have easily been one of my favorite books. The plot is engaging and told from an unique perspective, and I kept eagerly reading hoping to discover more about Emily's backstory and what she had went through. But due to the method of storytelling I kept finding myself getting frustrated at the pacing of everything.
Emily Shepard is the daughter of Mira and Bill Shepard who worked at a nuclear power plant off of Cape Abenaki when the site undergoes a meltdown. The entire city and neighboring areas are evacuated, everyone fearing radiation poisoning, and Emily is left parentless. To make matters worse, evidence comes to light implicating her father's alcohol problem as a key factor into the plant's meltdown and Emily's family becomes the dead scapegoats. With the public turning on her for her parents mistakes, Emily runs away and takes up the name Abby Bliss, living on the street and trying to survive on her own.
Like I said, the story is excellent. I was extremely invested in Emily's story and there were many times that the writing made me emotional. But the way Emily's story is told drove me nuts. Emily herself is literally writing the story for us in her journals and unfortunately it feels like a teenager writing in her journals. The story wanders back and forth, told out of order and with pointless tangents Emily included as she thought of them. There was one point where we halted the story to have Emily explain to us that she remembered how to grammatically differentiate between the different "lay, lie, lies" words. Which… I guess is impressive as I can never get that right but it served nothing to the story she's telling.
She also told the story in a very strange order. As I read more and more books, I'm coming to discover that non-linear stories are not necessarily my thing and Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands really emphasized this. We'd reference and foreshadow events we hadn't yet found out about, which normally is a good thing, but we'd do it with such frequency that it quickly got annoying that she wasn't telling me about these things yet. She mentions early on a 9 year old boy named Cameron who she clearly had a sort of parental relationship with and you can tell that something bad happened to him, but we don't actually meet Cameron until 2/3rds of the way through the book. She'd reference future events so often that you are sitting there reading and just waiting for her to tell you the final piece of information so you get a clear picture of how this thing you know will happen actually occurs.
The other problem I had with the book is much less a structure issue and more of a matter of personal taste. Emily LOVES Emily Dickinson. She's obsessed with her. What feels like large portions of the book is devoted to her telling the reader interesting tidbits about Emily Dickinson's life and poetry. Even the alias Emily takes up, Abby Bliss, is a name from Emily Dickinson's biography. Here's the issue, though: I really don't like Emily Dickinson's work or find her to be an interesting person. Maybe it's due to an over-zealous english teacher making us study her for what felt like months (I'm sure it was only a single month but it felt like the entire year we were learning about Emily Dickinson and analyzing her poetry) but whatever the reason, I do not enjoy her poetry and do not care about her life. And so every single time Emily went on a mini-teaching tangent about how fascinating Emily Dickinson is, I reacted overtly negatively.
If you can get past the stream of consciousness method in which the book is told and don't hate Emily Dickinson like I do, Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is an amazing read. It's story is heartfelt and I moved past all of my frustrations while reading because I was so invested in finding out what happened to Emily and Cameron. I listened to this at work and there were points where I was nearly crying at my cubicle (basically any time Maggie the dog's predicament inside the radiation zone was mentioned sent me into near tears). Emily is a great teenage character going through very adult problems making some horrible decisions. I just wish that maybe we hadn't gotten the direction connection to her brainspace and someone edited her journals before I had to read them.
(Side note: do not like the teenage main character fool you. This is an adult book. There is prostitution and drug use and mention of rape and some very dark material in here. Even the title itself has very dark undertones once you find out what it means. Do not go into this book expecting a light and fluffy YA book.)
Emily Shepard is the daughter of Mira and Bill Shepard who worked at a nuclear power plant off of Cape Abenaki when the site undergoes a meltdown. The entire city and neighboring areas are evacuated, everyone fearing radiation poisoning, and Emily is left parentless. To make matters worse, evidence comes to light implicating her father's alcohol problem as a key factor into the plant's meltdown and Emily's family becomes the dead scapegoats. With the public turning on her for her parents mistakes, Emily runs away and takes up the name Abby Bliss, living on the street and trying to survive on her own.
Like I said, the story is excellent. I was extremely invested in Emily's story and there were many times that the writing made me emotional. But the way Emily's story is told drove me nuts. Emily herself is literally writing the story for us in her journals and unfortunately it feels like a teenager writing in her journals. The story wanders back and forth, told out of order and with pointless tangents Emily included as she thought of them. There was one point where we halted the story to have Emily explain to us that she remembered how to grammatically differentiate between the different "lay, lie, lies" words. Which… I guess is impressive as I can never get that right but it served nothing to the story she's telling.
She also told the story in a very strange order. As I read more and more books, I'm coming to discover that non-linear stories are not necessarily my thing and Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands really emphasized this. We'd reference and foreshadow events we hadn't yet found out about, which normally is a good thing, but we'd do it with such frequency that it quickly got annoying that she wasn't telling me about these things yet. She mentions early on a 9 year old boy named Cameron who she clearly had a sort of parental relationship with and you can tell that something bad happened to him, but we don't actually meet Cameron until 2/3rds of the way through the book. She'd reference future events so often that you are sitting there reading and just waiting for her to tell you the final piece of information so you get a clear picture of how this thing you know will happen actually occurs.
The other problem I had with the book is much less a structure issue and more of a matter of personal taste. Emily LOVES Emily Dickinson. She's obsessed with her. What feels like large portions of the book is devoted to her telling the reader interesting tidbits about Emily Dickinson's life and poetry. Even the alias Emily takes up, Abby Bliss, is a name from Emily Dickinson's biography. Here's the issue, though: I really don't like Emily Dickinson's work or find her to be an interesting person. Maybe it's due to an over-zealous english teacher making us study her for what felt like months (I'm sure it was only a single month but it felt like the entire year we were learning about Emily Dickinson and analyzing her poetry) but whatever the reason, I do not enjoy her poetry and do not care about her life. And so every single time Emily went on a mini-teaching tangent about how fascinating Emily Dickinson is, I reacted overtly negatively.
If you can get past the stream of consciousness method in which the book is told and don't hate Emily Dickinson like I do, Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is an amazing read. It's story is heartfelt and I moved past all of my frustrations while reading because I was so invested in finding out what happened to Emily and Cameron. I listened to this at work and there were points where I was nearly crying at my cubicle (basically any time Maggie the dog's predicament inside the radiation zone was mentioned sent me into near tears). Emily is a great teenage character going through very adult problems making some horrible decisions. I just wish that maybe we hadn't gotten the direction connection to her brainspace and someone edited her journals before I had to read them.
(Side note: do not like the teenage main character fool you. This is an adult book. There is prostitution and drug use and mention of rape and some very dark material in here. Even the title itself has very dark undertones once you find out what it means. Do not go into this book expecting a light and fluffy YA book.)