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Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, War
- We get to follow the lives of Patch & Saint over a 25 year span, namely from 1976-2001.
- We start in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri. Patch & Saint are young & friends, and they only have each other. They are outsiders & don’t really fit in with everyone else at school. One day, Patch saves a girl, Misty, from being taken by a man in the woods. In the process of saving Misty, Patch is taken himself.
- I don’t want to spoil more, so I will leave it at the story follows Patch & Saint for 25 years and how they intertwine.
- At 608 pages, this book may be intimidating to some, but the chapters are all short & digestible. It’s a slow burn, but a big payoff. Worth the read. Very satisfying ending.
- The book is a mix of genres and topics - mystery, literary fiction, love story/romance, thriller, missing girls, coming of age, & even some mentions of historical events.
- The characters are so deep, complex, & vividly captured. One of the best character studies I have ever read.
- Loved the exploration of loyalty, trauma, courage, vulnerability, family (ones you are born into & ones you make along the way), friendship, hope, grief, guilt, the different kinds of love, & more that I am missing.
- A masterpiece. The plot & characters are expertly woven together. Whitaker is clearly an expert storyteller. It all flows so well. Excellent pacing.
- Gorgeous, poetic prose. Not sure how I haven’t read any of Whitaker’s books before, but can’t wait to get his other ones.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Grief
Minor: Incest, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Abortion
This is by far SLOWWWW paced FYI.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cancer, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Grief, Abortion, Murder
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Abortion, Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Incest, Suicide, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Vomit
This book was extremely slow paced. Like it's a "thriller" in the sense that they are tracking a serial killer, sure. And the chapters are short to artificially make it feel like a page turner, but it was much too slow of a burn to truly be a thriller. Though I never read thrillers so maybe I'm wrong. The middle section was hard to get through. I kept wondering how this book could possibly be almost 600 pages, and I SAVOUR a long book if it's good. I gave it an extra .5 star for the last 50 or so pages that gave a satisfactory ending (though too many loose ends were tied up, in my opinion). Interested to hear what people who loved this book have to say.
Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury