Summary:
"Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was."
When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.
Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.
Summary taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 170 pages
Source: Toronto Public Library
Publication Date: September 2nd 2008
What is it with authors who think the best way to depict the life of a kidnapped abused child is through poetic writing which we all know I am not fussy on at all? I'm not saying that it should be graphic but at least make the writing catch your eye and hold your attention. The subjects should not be written about in a whistful manner... at least in my opinion they shouldn't.
So I guess you can probably see where this review is going. I didn't really care for this novel at all. I thought that the writing was dull and the author tried so hard. Now, before you say maybe it was the subject matter that caused me to dislike the book let me tell you that is simply not the case. Don't get me wrong I think that the fact that the sorts of things that happened to "Alice" are disgusting.
I just think the author wrote about it in the wrong way and created a fragmented unbelievable story that made a mockery of people who have been in these situations. This one was so forced it gave me a headache and while it was a quick read it was far too disjointed for me and I don't think that I will be reading any of the authors other works. Her writing style just isn't for me.
I personally wouldn't recommend this book to anyone but as always I encourage you to try it for yourself, if you do read it and like it drop by and tell me so :)
★
What a shame you didn't like this book.. I've read one book from this author and this one really caught my attention. Maybe I should leave it unread, for now. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteWho knows give it a try :) You may just like it more than I did.
DeleteThis book is so different from the rest of Elizabeth Scott's books, and when I picked it up, I'd hoped it'd be sort of like Dreamland was for me with Sarah Dessen's books (because I largely don't like Dessen's books). But I didn't care for this book either, and the writing style was a big part of that. It didn't feel authentic, and it felt like it was for style, not substance. I thought things needed more grounding and to be more substantial.
ReplyDeleteYay! Another like minded soul, I agree it seems to have been written for style not substance.
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