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jeffmauch 's review for:
Rust & Stardust
by T. Greenwood
Childhood abduction is never exactly a pleasant topic, but this book was enjoyable with memorable characters and a story that pulled you from page to page all the way through. The title, Rust and Stardust, is a homage to Nabokov’s Lolita where the quote, “All the rest is rust and startdust,” resides. This is fitting as this novel is a fictionalized tale based on the true story of the abduction of Sally Horner in 1948, which is said to be the basis of Nabokov’s Lolita, fitting right? I am a fan of Lolita, it’s a classic, and this book does the story justice and partners nicely with it.
The tone and pacing of this book is what really sets it apart, sure it’s about a child’s abduction sick, career sexual criminal, but what it’s really about is the internal dialog and state of mind of a dozen different characters. Each chapter is told from a particular characters point of view, mostly this is the perspective of Sally, her mother, and her sister, but we also get chapters from outside observers to the main characters, which gives this novel a lot of different perspectives. I particularly enjoy the characters of the nun and of Lena the circus performer as they really start to see something is wrong, but just can’t put it all together. The key to this novel is of course, Sally. We see her mature emotionally throughout and rise and fall with her mental triumphs and physical defeats. Child abduction and abuse is gritty, distasteful and hard to read, but our author does a wonderful job of telling this story in a hard to read, but even harder to put down novel.
The tone and pacing of this book is what really sets it apart, sure it’s about a child’s abduction sick, career sexual criminal, but what it’s really about is the internal dialog and state of mind of a dozen different characters. Each chapter is told from a particular characters point of view, mostly this is the perspective of Sally, her mother, and her sister, but we also get chapters from outside observers to the main characters, which gives this novel a lot of different perspectives. I particularly enjoy the characters of the nun and of Lena the circus performer as they really start to see something is wrong, but just can’t put it all together. The key to this novel is of course, Sally. We see her mature emotionally throughout and rise and fall with her mental triumphs and physical defeats. Child abduction and abuse is gritty, distasteful and hard to read, but our author does a wonderful job of telling this story in a hard to read, but even harder to put down novel.