About this title: Masterfully written and beautifully told, Gudenkauf's debut is a stunning novel of family devotion, honesty, and regret that's sure to linger long after the last page is turned--a story of two families tied by the question of what had happened to their children. Original.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Mira Books
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780778327400ISBN:077832740X
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. Audience: General/trade. This is a hardback book in excellent condition read more
Edition: Advance Uncorrected Proofs
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mira
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780778327400ISBN:077832740X
Description: Near Fine. Collectible ARC. Color pictorial softcover. ISBN 9780778327400. On sale date August 2009. Gently read copy. Interior clean and unmarked. Binding is tight. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Mira Books
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780778327400ISBN:077832740X
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Appears as new but for one dog-eared page. Clean, tight and square, no writing or marks. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
"Anyone else notice these books sitting on the front shelves at Borders? The cover is so pretty-how can you not notice it? So when I noticed this book for the first time one of the Borders employees ambushed me and explained to me in gushing detail that this was one of the most phenomenal books she's ever read. She said she had to sit up all night reading it until the very end because it was essential that she find out what happened. So I bought it. How can you say no to a book that is that good?
Well, after having read it, I have a question for everyone who works at Borders: is promoting certain books part of your job? Regardless of whether you like the book? Or if you've even read it?
Anyway, Borders aside. This book was nowhere near phenomenal. I wouldn't even call it particularly enjoyable.
The book centers around seven-year-old Calli who does not speak. She is taken into the woods by her alcoholic father one morning-on that same morning her friend Petra also disappears. Interesting premise. Unfortunately, the writing itself left something to be desired.
I'll start off by saying that if you're going to tackle a heavy subject, you need characters that can carry their weight. This was the books biggest failing. The chapters rotate to a new perspective every couple of pages. And you have a wide variety of characters telling this story-fathers, mothers, young girls, a young boy, and so on. But I couldn't differentiate between any voices. Not a single one was distinct.
The prose itself is pretty solid.
The one major problem I had was the fact that the story was not thrilling. The story cracked under the lack of suspense and the fact that there are places in which it's hard to keep that suspension of disbelief. Calli is the main focus of the story and what the reader is supposed to care about. But we know the person who kidnapped her, why she was kidnapped, and where she was taken. And there was also the fact that we don't get any sense of danger from her situation, since Griff doesn't seem to intend to do her major harm.
It seemed to me that the author realized this and threw Petra in there as a side-mystery. I only say this since she is not mentioned with the same reverence that Calli is and that her kidnapping doesn't come to any major wrap-up or climax. Sure, we find out whodunit but the motive seems wonky at best.
And one more thing I wouldn't normally complain about but I feel is worth mentioning-the messages in this story seem to blatantly say that a woman's number one goal in life is to marry and have kids. It might just be me being over-sensitive but the fact that every single woman in this book has no trait or ambition other than "wife and mother" disturbed me. Antonia seems so desperate to fit this mold that she marries an abusive jackass.
So overall, two of five. I would tread cautiously around Borders employees looking to sell you this book unless you're quite sure that it is the kind of book you'd love read."
"This book started out very promising. It was one of those books I picked up and just had to finish as soon as possible so I could know what was going to happen. However I didn't reach the end and think 'wow, that was just incredible', I reached the end and thought it was just pretty good.
The book is definitely suspenseful, although I felt the author took an easy route writing from the different people's perspectives. I wouldn't have minded so much if the author had given each of the characters different voices. They are all so varied, in age and upbringing, yet there is no variation in voice or writing style. I felt like, at times, the writing was very amateurish. I also found a few of the characters really disappointing; Antonia and Martin and even Louis.
Aside from all the flaws this book was still a fast, interesting, suspenseful read and it's fun to try to put all the pieces together as you go."
"You know where this is going to go, but admittedly, I couldn't put it down until I reached the conclusion. I like the format, how each chapter is a different character's voice.
The story's set in Iowa, so I have a soft spot for that. :)
Kinda funny how the "Big City Folk" don't recognize the sound of cicadas. I live in Iowa's only big city, and they're pretty loud here in the summertime. Funny how a little insignificant detail like that sorta irks me.
The characters strike me as predictable, but that's not a bad thing. Reminds me of a Lifetime movie. But, like I said, I couldn't put it down!
One last thing: some horrible things happen in this story, but you know what? I LOVE how the author alludes to them without getting into the gory details. Most authors will go into that, and I find that so disturbing. I appreciate that she leaves that to the imagination and instead invests her time developing the characters."
"I have this really bad habit of liking a book when I first start it, and then it wearing down on me. I didn't expect this to be a thriller, but it was, and I typically don't like thrillers, as they tend to introduce too much information to allow a good conclusion without an obnoxious epilogue.
The bad: this book was replete with too much information, poor sentences and contained an obnoxious epilogue. I was reminded of The Well and the Mine due to the narrator shifts, and much like that book, the author did not very clearly distinguish narrator voice. The bad guys were bad guys and the good guys were good guys, and there was never any confusion over who was whom--which is bad for a thriller.
The good: I really felt like, and I'm saying this with no background information, research, or any informed opinion, that I got some idea of what the chaos and trauma of a missing persons search was like, if you looked beyond all the thriller details. Each chapter only contained enough information to make you want to read the next chapter, until about 100 pages from the end when you felt you had the whole puzzle, you just had to put it all together.
The Neutral: I really liked the character trait of selective mutism, but in the end I wish it had been more a character development and less a plot device.
I'm sorry if I recommended this book too early. I will have hopefully learned my lesson about that in a year or two."
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