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A review by purrfectpages
Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway
3.0
Emmy & Oliver have been next door neighbors and best friends since birth sharing so much in common, including their birthdays. Then one day, when Oliver is seven, his dad kidnaps him. A community now panic-stricken and frantic searches for Oliver and his father for years, but to no avail.
UNTIL...
One day Oliver surfaces in New York and is taken home to reunite with his mom in California. But what is home? Ten years have passed and so much has changed. Oliver's mom remarried and had twins and Oliver grew up. However, although they have to learn how to be friends again, one thing that has managed to stand the test of time is Emmy & Oliver's friendship.
Emmy & Oliver is a light read. I mention this because I find its lightness remarkable, given the heavy subject matter. Maybe this is because Oliver wasn't taken by a stranger with some shady backstory. He was taken by his own father and apparently, treated very well. This aspect, most likely intentional, makes it harder to find a "bad guy" in the story. Author Robin Benway could have made Oliver some tortured, brooding soul, but she chose not to. Oliver is just a normal kid, whose version of normal just happened to be occurring on the other side of the country.
The issues Emmy & Oliver are dealing with also happen to be typical teenage fare. Overprotective parents, falling in love, and leaving home for the first time are all topics that are touched upon. And while it sounds morbid to say, I think that's why this story was just okay for me. I think I kept wanting there to be more to the story of Oliver's return and more to the story of Emmy & Oliver's reunion.
All in all, I felt this was just a decent read about an extraordinary event that happened to otherwise ordinary people.
UNTIL...
One day Oliver surfaces in New York and is taken home to reunite with his mom in California. But what is home? Ten years have passed and so much has changed. Oliver's mom remarried and had twins and Oliver grew up. However, although they have to learn how to be friends again, one thing that has managed to stand the test of time is Emmy & Oliver's friendship.
Emmy & Oliver is a light read. I mention this because I find its lightness remarkable, given the heavy subject matter. Maybe this is because Oliver wasn't taken by a stranger with some shady backstory. He was taken by his own father and apparently, treated very well. This aspect, most likely intentional, makes it harder to find a "bad guy" in the story. Author Robin Benway could have made Oliver some tortured, brooding soul, but she chose not to. Oliver is just a normal kid, whose version of normal just happened to be occurring on the other side of the country.
The issues Emmy & Oliver are dealing with also happen to be typical teenage fare. Overprotective parents, falling in love, and leaving home for the first time are all topics that are touched upon. And while it sounds morbid to say, I think that's why this story was just okay for me. I think I kept wanting there to be more to the story of Oliver's return and more to the story of Emmy & Oliver's reunion.
All in all, I felt this was just a decent read about an extraordinary event that happened to otherwise ordinary people.