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A review by kitherondales
We Now Return to Regular Life by Martin Wilson
5.0
To say that this is the most touching and heartfelt novel I have ever read would be an understatement. I cried so many times throughout this book that I fear I have no tears left. We Now Return to Regular tells the story of a boy, Sam Walsh, who was abducted at the age of 11 by a sexual predator. The man kept him for 3 years and what he went through in that little apartment in Anniston, Alabama changed his life, and the lives of everyone around him, forever.
When this novel claims to be ripped-from-the-headlines story they truly mean it. It made me think of the real life kidnappings of children like Steven Staynor, Shawn Hornbeck, Shasta Groene, and Jaycee Dugard. Sam’s trauma was handled with such care and sensitivity and really helped explain the reasonings behind why some kidnapping victims stay with their abductors, even when they are given certain freedoms like being able to go outside or being allowed to talk to others when they are permitted to leave their prisons for awhile. I felt so connected to Sam knowing everything he endured in order to survive. And like Beth and Josh, I wanted to be an ally to Sam. An ally to all the abducted children in the world who got to come home again but came home as a ghost of the kid they were before their kidnappers brutally killed the innocent and happy child they were before they went missing.
I don’t think I will ever find another book that makes me feel as deeply as this one has, and I don’t think I will ever love any fictional characters quite as much as I love Sam, Josh, and Beth. They are a part of me for eternity. And much like Sam walking freely into a new life with his family and friends by his side after saying goodbye to the life he was forced to live in captivity, I am now walking into tomorrow with my eyes wide open to the beauty of life beneath all the cruelties out there. I am forever changed by Sam’s story, and so thankful I got to go on this journey through the eyes of the people who loves him the most.
When this novel claims to be ripped-from-the-headlines story they truly mean it. It made me think of the real life kidnappings of children like Steven Staynor, Shawn Hornbeck, Shasta Groene, and Jaycee Dugard. Sam’s trauma was handled with such care and sensitivity and really helped explain the reasonings behind why some kidnapping victims stay with their abductors, even when they are given certain freedoms like being able to go outside or being allowed to talk to others when they are permitted to leave their prisons for awhile. I felt so connected to Sam knowing everything he endured in order to survive. And like Beth and Josh, I wanted to be an ally to Sam. An ally to all the abducted children in the world who got to come home again but came home as a ghost of the kid they were before their kidnappers brutally killed the innocent and happy child they were before they went missing.
I don’t think I will ever find another book that makes me feel as deeply as this one has, and I don’t think I will ever love any fictional characters quite as much as I love Sam, Josh, and Beth. They are a part of me for eternity. And much like Sam walking freely into a new life with his family and friends by his side after saying goodbye to the life he was forced to live in captivity, I am now walking into tomorrow with my eyes wide open to the beauty of life beneath all the cruelties out there. I am forever changed by Sam’s story, and so thankful I got to go on this journey through the eyes of the people who loves him the most.