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katy_chessum_rice 's review for:
Rust & Stardust
by T. Greenwood
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Based on the real life kidnap and abuse of eleven year old Sally Horner by fifty-two year old Frank LaSalle in 1948. Apparently, this is the "true crime" story that inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write 'Lolita'.
This isn't a book that I would usually pick up and I only have it because it was a gift from my husband for my birthday last year. To start with the positives, the character of Sally was well drawn and the author managed to get into the mind of a child to make the reasons why Sally believed she needed to go away with her kidnapper feel authentic. The chapters are told from different character's perspectives, adding to the layers of the story and how adults were either complicit or unable to help Sally. The author chose not to bring the story from Frank's perspective, which I think is the right decision because I couldn't have read this book if they had.
The biggest niggle for me is the retelling of a real life story involving the abduction and prolonged period of abuse against a child. I don't usually go for "misery porn" and this book has reinforced for me that this is not my genre. The author has been very respectful of Sally's story, no issues there. It just feels wrong to be reading it as an entertainment. Perhaps if the author had taken the basic premise as an outline for their own interpretation/fictionalised take (like you see films that say at the start "based on true events") I could have taken to it more (especially if there could have been a happier ending after all the horror). It's also convinced me that I never want to read 'Lolita'!
This isn't a book that I would usually pick up and I only have it because it was a gift from my husband for my birthday last year. To start with the positives, the character of Sally was well drawn and the author managed to get into the mind of a child to make the reasons why Sally believed she needed to go away with her kidnapper feel authentic. The chapters are told from different character's perspectives, adding to the layers of the story and how adults were either complicit or unable to help Sally. The author chose not to bring the story from Frank's perspective, which I think is the right decision because I couldn't have read this book if they had.
The biggest niggle for me is the retelling of a real life story involving the abduction and prolonged period of abuse against a child. I don't usually go for "misery porn" and this book has reinforced for me that this is not my genre. The author has been very respectful of Sally's story, no issues there. It just feels wrong to be reading it as an entertainment. Perhaps if the author had taken the basic premise as an outline for their own interpretation/fictionalised take (like you see films that say at the start "based on true events") I could have taken to it more (especially if there could have been a happier ending after all the horror). It's also convinced me that I never want to read 'Lolita'!