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rachaelreads92 's review for:
The Nowhere Child
by Christian White
**5 Stars**
What an amazing debut novel by Christian White. I honestly could not put it down!!!
In 1990, 2 year old Sammy Went vanished from her home in Manson, Kentucky, in the middle of the day while her mother and brother were in the house. She was never found, she simply vanished. The police were stunned. 28 years later, in Melbourne, Australia, Kim Leamy's life changed forever when a stranger approached her saying that he believed that she was Sammy Went.
Firstly, let me state, that I loved that some of this story was set in Melbourne (although I could have done with a little more). When I read that Kim's sister lived in Caroline Springs, it made me giddy as that is somewhere that I travel to very frequently. It made me feel more included in the novel. This is something that does not happen all too often.
This story was told in two timelines which alternate between now and then Now is told in first person perspective from Kim in the present day in her struggle to uncover the truth about what happened to her, and then which is told from multiple POVs in the aftermath of Sammy's disappearance. I personally enjoyed the then chapters more so than the now chapters as I really enjoyed reading about the intricacies of the small town of Manson (did anyone else get chills at the name of the town? Every time I read it I thought: Charles). White did an excellent job at creating many minor characters that were detailed and purposeful. I particular liked the chapters told from the perspectives of Becky, Patrick and Jack. I did find Kim's character, and the other characters in the now chapters slightly one dimensional, but I can forgive this because the historical characters are just so good!
There were several surprises in this novel, and most of them I found truely surprising and shocking. Particularly the end reveal, I thought I had it figured out, but alas, I had not. I was slightly right, but still off the mark.
I also really liked reading about the "church". I put church in quotation marks because it really was more of a cult. I didn't know that snake handling was a religious practice, but I am actually interested to learn more about this and I think I might do some research on the subject. It was interesting to see how the character of Molly embraced the church, particularly after the tragedy of loosing her child and how that was a relief from her post natal depression.
My one complaint of this story would be that I don't think there was enough in the plot to explain the dramatic change in some of the characters, particularly in the case of Emma. I didn't particularly understand how Emma had become so cut off from her family, particularly her father, when they had been so incredibly close.
Overall, a really great book, would highly recommend!!
What an amazing debut novel by Christian White. I honestly could not put it down!!!
In 1990, 2 year old Sammy Went vanished from her home in Manson, Kentucky, in the middle of the day while her mother and brother were in the house. She was never found, she simply vanished. The police were stunned. 28 years later, in Melbourne, Australia, Kim Leamy's life changed forever when a stranger approached her saying that he believed that she was Sammy Went.
Firstly, let me state, that I loved that some of this story was set in Melbourne (although I could have done with a little more). When I read that Kim's sister lived in Caroline Springs, it made me giddy as that is somewhere that I travel to very frequently. It made me feel more included in the novel. This is something that does not happen all too often.
This story was told in two timelines which alternate between now and then Now is told in first person perspective from Kim in the present day in her struggle to uncover the truth about what happened to her, and then which is told from multiple POVs in the aftermath of Sammy's disappearance. I personally enjoyed the then chapters more so than the now chapters as I really enjoyed reading about the intricacies of the small town of Manson (did anyone else get chills at the name of the town? Every time I read it I thought: Charles). White did an excellent job at creating many minor characters that were detailed and purposeful. I particular liked the chapters told from the perspectives of Becky, Patrick and Jack. I did find Kim's character, and the other characters in the now chapters slightly one dimensional, but I can forgive this because the historical characters are just so good!
There were several surprises in this novel, and most of them I found truely surprising and shocking. Particularly the end reveal, I thought I had it figured out, but alas, I had not. I was slightly right, but still off the mark.
I also really liked reading about the "church". I put church in quotation marks because it really was more of a cult. I didn't know that snake handling was a religious practice, but I am actually interested to learn more about this and I think I might do some research on the subject. It was interesting to see how the character of Molly embraced the church, particularly after the tragedy of loosing her child and how that was a relief from her post natal depression.
My one complaint of this story would be that I don't think there was enough in the plot to explain the dramatic change in some of the characters, particularly in the case of Emma. I didn't particularly understand how Emma had become so cut off from her family, particularly her father, when they had been so incredibly close.
Spoiler
Was this due to Sammy's disappearance, discovering her father's sexual identity, or because of her mother's immersion into the cult?Overall, a really great book, would highly recommend!!