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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
I think she did a nice job depicting the way losing a child affects the parents both as individuals and a couple, but I found this read rather excruciating. I wouldn't really recommend it.
I gave this book a three, but depending upon on how I think about it, I could have given it a two or a four. It was a powerful story of what happens to the lives of the loved ones who are left searching and wondering after their child is kidnapped. The author writes in such a general, non-emotional way that it really seems like it would be how you get through the day - nothing really matters because you are still searching. Everything is just simply going through the motions. But as time goes on, and the search seems more and more futile, how the family deals differently with the reality of what probably happened. I really think that the short, short chapters (sometimes only one page long) is what really got me through the book. If some of those chapters were longer, I may have put the book down because of the monotonous, lifeless experience of the main character. But really, who could blame her when the center piece of her life was snatched in an instant.
It sucked me in from the first page and I didn't want to put it down! Great summer read :)
I couldn't put this book down. I literally read it in two days...and I have two small children, so it's not like I have a ton of free time on my hands.
The narrator "loses" her fiance's 6-year-old daughter on a foggy San Francisco beach. This book spans the year following that fateful day, as the police become more convinced that the little girl must have drowned, and the narrator becomes obsessively convinced that she was kidnapped. Even as her relationship falls apart (like you couldn't see that one coming), she becomes more committed to finding the little girl than she is to building a life with the girl's father.
Richmond is an excellent writer, who wraps the themes of loss, love, and memory into a fascinating story, although the plot does move rather slowly at times...just like that year does for those involved. Her details are vivid enough that after reading a scene in which the narrator enjoys some late-night french toast, I had to put the book down long enough to make myself some.
The narrator "loses" her fiance's 6-year-old daughter on a foggy San Francisco beach. This book spans the year following that fateful day, as the police become more convinced that the little girl must have drowned, and the narrator becomes obsessively convinced that she was kidnapped. Even as her relationship falls apart (like you couldn't see that one coming), she becomes more committed to finding the little girl than she is to building a life with the girl's father.
Richmond is an excellent writer, who wraps the themes of loss, love, and memory into a fascinating story, although the plot does move rather slowly at times...just like that year does for those involved. Her details are vivid enough that after reading a scene in which the narrator enjoys some late-night french toast, I had to put the book down long enough to make myself some.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I picked this one up thinking it was a regular buy it at the grocery while waiting in line book. It's not. It kept my attention from the first day. I agree with the reviews that it can be compared to a Jodi Piccout novel. It was written beautiful and I felt the emotions of the characters. The information about memory was very interesting and appropriate for the book.
AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL! I usually advise my students to stay away from all caps and exclamation points, but there is not other way for me to scream about the catastrophe that is this novel. For starters it is about 300 pages too long. And what's with the page and a half chapters? If I'm going to read 81 chapters the book better be 800 pages long. However, this novel sure felt like it was 800 pages long. The protagonist was whiny and irritating. She wants to find her fiance's daughter, but her constant paranoia about her fiance dumping her just intensifies her selfishness. I'm glad he didn't take her back. She lost his kid for crying out loud! How could he ever trust her again? I hate her. I also hate that the only thing dragging me to the end of the story was to find out what did happen to the little girl. I had to go about 350 pages into the novel to find that out. I was two seconds from saying "screw it, I do care what happened to the kid." The ending was so anticlimactic. Not that I want to read about the horrible things people might do to little girls, but the author barely alludes to what might have been done to this little girl. I think the worst of it was that she was locked in a house with only a box of macaroni and cheese. Really? That's it? She's been missing for a year and that's the worst that happened to her? 300+ pages of the story labor on and on about the protagonist's pathetic life, including an inappropriate relationship when she was 16 with a 27 year old, and stupid tidbits about how memory works. Seriously, forcing someone to read this book is a new form of torture.
I listened to this on CD> I basically finished it because I wanted to know what happened to the little girl.
Abby is watching her fiance, Jake's, 6 year old daughter, Emma, while he is away for the weekend. While they are walking a foggy beach, Abby is distracted for a minute. That's all it takes for Emma to disappear. The book follows the year long journey of Abby and Jake as they search for Emma. The effect the loss has on their relationship and on themselves. It is a simple book and a quick read. I liked that Richmond peppered in some information about memory (as Abby tried to recall details of that morning) and photography (Abby's profession). Although the subject matter is harrowing and emotional, I don't feel the book fully pulled me into the feeling of loss.