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The Lost Daughter
Brooke O’Connor — elegant, self-possessed, and kind — has a happy marriage and a deeply loved young daughter. So her adamant refusal to have a second child confounds her husband, Sean. When Brooke’s high school boyfriend Alex — now divorced and mourning the death of his young son — unexpectedly resurfaces, Sean begins to suspect an affair.
For fifteen years Brooke has kept a shameful secret from everyone she loves. Only Alex knows the truth that drove them apart. His reappearance now threatens the life she has so carefully constructed and fortified by denial. With her marriage — and her emotional equilibrium — at stake, Brooke must confront what she has been unwilling to face for so long.
But the truth is not what Brooke believes it to be.
For fifteen years Brooke has kept a shameful secret from everyone she loves. Only Alex knows the truth that drove them apart. His reappearance now threatens the life she has so carefully constructed and fortified by denial. With her marriage — and her emotional equilibrium — at stake, Brooke must confront what she has been unwilling to face for so long.
But the truth is not what Brooke believes it to be.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
67 people are currently reading
1605 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Ferriss
20 books59 followers"Vivid, compelling, as ineluctable as a Greek tragedy." So writes Claire Messud (THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS) of Lucy Ferriss's forthcoming novel, A SISTER TO HONOR.
Born in St. Louis, Lucy has lived on both coasts, in the middle, and abroad. Her recent novel THE LOST DAUGHTER was a Book of the Month pick and a Barnes & Noble bestseller. Her memoir UNVEILING THE PROPHET was named Best Book of the Year by the St. Louis Riverfront Times; her collection LEAVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD won the Mid-List First Series Award. She lives with Don Moon in the Berkshires and in Connecticut, where she is Writer-in-Residence at Trinity College. She has two strong sons and abiding passions for music, politics, travel, tennis, and wilderness. To research A SISTER TO HONOR, she traveled to the northwest provinces of Pakistan and came to know its people, their hopes and their challenges both at home and in America.
Born in St. Louis, Lucy has lived on both coasts, in the middle, and abroad. Her recent novel THE LOST DAUGHTER was a Book of the Month pick and a Barnes & Noble bestseller. Her memoir UNVEILING THE PROPHET was named Best Book of the Year by the St. Louis Riverfront Times; her collection LEAVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD won the Mid-List First Series Award. She lives with Don Moon in the Berkshires and in Connecticut, where she is Writer-in-Residence at Trinity College. She has two strong sons and abiding passions for music, politics, travel, tennis, and wilderness. To research A SISTER TO HONOR, she traveled to the northwest provinces of Pakistan and came to know its people, their hopes and their challenges both at home and in America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
September 21, 2012
I am not happy that I paid money for this book. Weak moment at Target:(...My decision to purchase this book weighed mostly on one of my favorite author's (Wally Lamb) recommendation comment on the cover of the book.
*This review DOES contain spoilers*
Let me list my reasons for my dislike of this book:
First of all, let me state that I am pro-choice, BUT not as a method of birth control in the third trimester.
#1) This is supposed to be two very smart teens at the time of their decision to go to a MOTEL and deliver a child (third trimester) with the help of a metal SPOON??? Then wrap the child in a MOTEL towel and put in a wooden crate in the rain by the DUMPSTER...This makes me ILL to even think of it. ENOUGH SAID. I was enraged at this point.
#2) As a teenager, Brooke had a very open relationship with her mother regarding birth control and the decision to choose the diaphram over the pill....how the HECK can Brooke NOT tell her mother that she is pregnant??? How the HECK can her mother or father not notice that the skinny, only child Brooke is heavier? This does NOT make sense...but wait, the author takes Brooke to a "witch doctor" (my words) to drink a magic potion to miscarry, which doesn't happen.
#3) Sean, Brooke's husband and his large family, are all butting in regarding how many children each of them should be producing??? Really? Please tell me in anyone's family, when is that anyone's business?
#4) Brooke's boss is dying, transfers her to a new location and promotion, and she just up and disappears for a week without calling in???? And the boss just forgives her and sets up a trust upon his death, giving her everything? REALLY?
#5) Why does the former boyfriend, Alex the father of the poor, disabled little girl left to die, keep calling that little girl a "HE"? I read the whole book and never figured that out.
#6) Why is Brooke prostituting herself to Alex to get him to put up money for the newly discovered disabled child?
#7) It took FIFTEEN years to rediscover their child? If Alex hadn't started to feel guilty, would Brooke ever had? Something wrong there!
#8) Finally, REALLY, the sterotypes of the Irish being drunks. So over that.
I was so mad reading this book, I actually kept a note pad next to me, noting everything in this book that ticked me off.
*This review DOES contain spoilers*
Let me list my reasons for my dislike of this book:
First of all, let me state that I am pro-choice, BUT not as a method of birth control in the third trimester.
#1) This is supposed to be two very smart teens at the time of their decision to go to a MOTEL and deliver a child (third trimester) with the help of a metal SPOON??? Then wrap the child in a MOTEL towel and put in a wooden crate in the rain by the DUMPSTER...This makes me ILL to even think of it. ENOUGH SAID. I was enraged at this point.
#2) As a teenager, Brooke had a very open relationship with her mother regarding birth control and the decision to choose the diaphram over the pill....how the HECK can Brooke NOT tell her mother that she is pregnant??? How the HECK can her mother or father not notice that the skinny, only child Brooke is heavier? This does NOT make sense...but wait, the author takes Brooke to a "witch doctor" (my words) to drink a magic potion to miscarry, which doesn't happen.
#3) Sean, Brooke's husband and his large family, are all butting in regarding how many children each of them should be producing??? Really? Please tell me in anyone's family, when is that anyone's business?
#4) Brooke's boss is dying, transfers her to a new location and promotion, and she just up and disappears for a week without calling in???? And the boss just forgives her and sets up a trust upon his death, giving her everything? REALLY?
#5) Why does the former boyfriend, Alex the father of the poor, disabled little girl left to die, keep calling that little girl a "HE"? I read the whole book and never figured that out.
#6) Why is Brooke prostituting herself to Alex to get him to put up money for the newly discovered disabled child?
#7) It took FIFTEEN years to rediscover their child? If Alex hadn't started to feel guilty, would Brooke ever had? Something wrong there!
#8) Finally, REALLY, the sterotypes of the Irish being drunks. So over that.
I was so mad reading this book, I actually kept a note pad next to me, noting everything in this book that ticked me off.
May 24, 2012
I received this book for free from GR First Reads and was looking forward to reading it, but I couldn't get through the first few chapters. The language that was used and the details of the birth and sex just turned me off. I feel like a story can be told without using the language and the detail that was used in this book. And okay, maybe the gorey details of the birth were needed for later in the story, to really understand what happened to her, but I even went several chapters farther into the book, and I just couldn't get into the story. I was turned off. And I'm sure the book got happier in the end, but it was just so depressing I couldn't get into it. I tried several times, and failed. I can normally find something in a book to keep me pushing through the book, but this time I couldn't.
September 27, 2022
For fifteen years Brooke has kept a secret form everyone she loves. Only her former boyfriend Alex, knows what happened after four and one half months into Brooke's pregnancy while in high school.
The truth was so very unexpected.
The truth was so very unexpected.
April 2, 2017
The story itself was enjoyable enough but I am incredibly not here for the casually tossed around racism and ableism sprinkled through out the book. Even if I had LOVED the story, I wouldn't be reading this author again. So since it was just "okay enough to finish", that's a definite hard pass on any of their future works.
January 3, 2013
I have not read nearly as much as I'd like to lately.
I have to say, this book was such a great choice to begin 2013 with.
I found the basic premise of the novel to be interesting and compelling.
There was an slight element of mystery in the novel, I like that nothing felt too contrived or forced.
It was easy to go on this journey with Sean, Nadja, Brooke and Alex.
Overall, these were flawed people, however, they were people I could empathize with. While their choices were at times were horrible, they were totally understandable.
There is an element of the dilemma feeling a little like something Jodi Picoult would have written, however, I felt Ferriss handled her conflict with a greater amount of finesse. I did not feel that the author tried to make her audience feel any certain way about what was happening with the characters.
THe pace of the novel was good, the characters were very interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will look for others written by this novel.
I have to say, this book was such a great choice to begin 2013 with.
I found the basic premise of the novel to be interesting and compelling.
There was an slight element of mystery in the novel, I like that nothing felt too contrived or forced.
It was easy to go on this journey with Sean, Nadja, Brooke and Alex.
Overall, these were flawed people, however, they were people I could empathize with. While their choices were at times were horrible, they were totally understandable.
There is an element of the dilemma feeling a little like something Jodi Picoult would have written, however, I felt Ferriss handled her conflict with a greater amount of finesse. I did not feel that the author tried to make her audience feel any certain way about what was happening with the characters.
THe pace of the novel was good, the characters were very interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will look for others written by this novel.
December 10, 2012
I couldn't finish this book. I kept telling myself I was still reading so I could find out what happened in the end, but halfway through I realized even that wasn't true, and I really didn't care. I found the characters unlikable and pretty stereotypical, the mood of the story depressing and sad with no redeeming reason, and the big "secret" was literally revealed in the first chapter. I felt bogged down by all the overdone emotion, and could pretty much tell how the whole thing was going to play out and even by only skimming the second half and reading a couple of summaries online it seems I was right. The reviews on the back cover were so good I got excited, but overall this book was extremely disappointing. Don't bother.
June 3, 2014
This was a great book to read! It was a total page turner and always left me wanting to read more!! At first there were some part that were a little boring which made me start to slow down when reading, but that only lasted a couple of pages. I enjoyed reading this book because something unexpected takes place which leaves you on the edge of your seat. It is a good book to read and the author did a great job ending the chapters suspenseful to make you want to turn that page and keep reading no matter what time it is even if you have school the next morning. I thought this book was a realistic book that wasn't buttered up, it is true no matter where you go the past will still be there, making everyone have skeletons in there closet!
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March 25, 2012I just had to stop reading it. First, the opening chapter was incredibly graphic and disturbing and for anyone who has strong feeling about abortion or have had an abortion or ... geez, really anybody -- it's a really, really hard chapter.
The other reason I couldn't finish it is the main character, Brooke, was entirely unsympathetic to me (which is hugely ironic). She read as a weak character to me. Her husband annoyed me. Alex had too much of the martyr to him. The only person I really liked was Najda, and after almost half the book, there wasn't enough about her.
I think the subject matter and topic is interesting, but this book just can't tell the story (in my opinion).
The other reason I couldn't finish it is the main character, Brooke, was entirely unsympathetic to me (which is hugely ironic). She read as a weak character to me. Her husband annoyed me. Alex had too much of the martyr to him. The only person I really liked was Najda, and after almost half the book, there wasn't enough about her.
I think the subject matter and topic is interesting, but this book just can't tell the story (in my opinion).
October 3, 2012
A lot of people I have found didn't like the tone and disturbing nature of this book. I think the pretty cover throws people off. So don't let the cover fool you. It definitely is not a light hearted read. However it is really good.
The characters are really unlikeable in the beginning, but that is what kept me reading. I was tired of perfect characters in every book I read. It is a good story about redemption and closure. The only things I didn't like were little inconsistencies in the supporting characters and how it glamorizes having an affair. I will say this if you are against abortion do not read this book it will just make you pissed off.
The characters are really unlikeable in the beginning, but that is what kept me reading. I was tired of perfect characters in every book I read. It is a good story about redemption and closure. The only things I didn't like were little inconsistencies in the supporting characters and how it glamorizes having an affair. I will say this if you are against abortion do not read this book it will just make you pissed off.
September 17, 2012
I did not like this book. At all. It's one of those books that I only finished because I have to finish all books I start.
I did not like any of the characters, except for the grandfather. He was the only one with any sense.
Sean was horrible. I hated how whinny and insecure he was. I hated how he would not accept the fact that his wife didn't want to be pregnant again. Her body, her choice is my opinion.
I hated how stuck in the past Brooke and Alex were. I hate everything about everyone.
Bad, bad book.
I did not like any of the characters, except for the grandfather. He was the only one with any sense.
Sean was horrible. I hated how whinny and insecure he was. I hated how he would not accept the fact that his wife didn't want to be pregnant again. Her body, her choice is my opinion.
I hated how stuck in the past Brooke and Alex were. I hate everything about everyone.
Bad, bad book.
July 16, 2014
Touching and beautiful! Deals with some pretty serious issues in a way that is understanding.
October 3, 2014
loved this story
February 24, 2020
This book started out ok but i was skimming by the end...i wanted to know how it would end but by halfway through, i was just losing interest in the page by page narative.
November 10, 2012
This was a fabulous book! I initially gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I thought it started off rather slowly with a lot of flash backs & background information. However, in retrospect, I believe this was an integral part of the story. It was imperative to feel the emotions of the characters then, so that you could better understand why the secret they kept for so long was still haunting them. For me, this is a 5 star book!
Without giving too much away, the novel centers around Brooke & Alex, high school sweethearts who make a grave mistake regarding their unwanted pregnancy. They never speak of what happened and Brooke refuses to see or speak to Alex. Alex goes off to college & Brooke moves away. They continue to have no contact with each other, and go on to live separate lives which include marriage & children. Nevertheless, neither Brooke nor Alex are ever really happy as they carry their secret like an albatross. Alex's marriage disintegrates and Brooke denies her husband the additional children he wants so badly.
Alex comes back to see Brooke because he feels he must come clean on what he did. He needs Brooke's forgiveness in order to go on with his life. Brooke does not want to believe him, or even talk about the incident. Furthermore, she does not think there is anything to forgive. She is doing her best to keep her secret hidden & retain normalcy, but she fails miserably. Brooke's husband suspects she is having an affair with her old flame & begins to act erratically. Brooke temporarily leaves him & their daughter to go back to her hometown to revisit the incident & to stay with her mother. The secret is boiling over and is desperately trying to surface. Brooke needs to find out what really happened so she can be at peace.
Alex finds her & in the incidents that follow, they discover the truth & it's heartbreaking consequences. Only after facing their worst fears and realizing the magnitude of their mistake & how many lives they have affected, can they try to forgive & ask forgiveness.
I really, really liked this book! The characters of the novel were so alive, I felt I could understand why they did what they did. This book contains some heavy subject matter, but because it was so well written, I couldn't put it down. This will be a novel that I will remember & recommend for a long time.
Without giving too much away, the novel centers around Brooke & Alex, high school sweethearts who make a grave mistake regarding their unwanted pregnancy. They never speak of what happened and Brooke refuses to see or speak to Alex. Alex goes off to college & Brooke moves away. They continue to have no contact with each other, and go on to live separate lives which include marriage & children. Nevertheless, neither Brooke nor Alex are ever really happy as they carry their secret like an albatross. Alex's marriage disintegrates and Brooke denies her husband the additional children he wants so badly.
Alex comes back to see Brooke because he feels he must come clean on what he did. He needs Brooke's forgiveness in order to go on with his life. Brooke does not want to believe him, or even talk about the incident. Furthermore, she does not think there is anything to forgive. She is doing her best to keep her secret hidden & retain normalcy, but she fails miserably. Brooke's husband suspects she is having an affair with her old flame & begins to act erratically. Brooke temporarily leaves him & their daughter to go back to her hometown to revisit the incident & to stay with her mother. The secret is boiling over and is desperately trying to surface. Brooke needs to find out what really happened so she can be at peace.
Alex finds her & in the incidents that follow, they discover the truth & it's heartbreaking consequences. Only after facing their worst fears and realizing the magnitude of their mistake & how many lives they have affected, can they try to forgive & ask forgiveness.
I really, really liked this book! The characters of the novel were so alive, I felt I could understand why they did what they did. This book contains some heavy subject matter, but because it was so well written, I couldn't put it down. This will be a novel that I will remember & recommend for a long time.
March 7, 2015
This wasn't the best book I have ever read, and it wasn't the worst. The characters said and did what you expected them to say and do, and the ending was more or less predictable. I did enjoy the book overall, despite it being a middling read.
I read a number of reviews of this book, with varying degrees of criticism, and the one that stuck out to me was the one complaining about the characters always looking back instead of putting the past behind them. That is an impossible expectation for real life, and to wish it for a book is to wish for a different sort of book. In that respect, I think the author got it right. I think the author understood, and conveyed in a reasonably convincing way, how trauma can change you, and how just putting it behind you & moving forward into your future life is not always easy, or even always possible. Brooke & Alex experienced something AS TEENS that most adults would be traumatized by, and their attempts to tuck it into a little box and set it aside (no pun intended) damaged them as much as...well, I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it yet. So it is hardly unpredictable that their lives would start to unravel, and hardly surprising that their quest for peace would take them back to the beginning. That is human psychology in a nutshell. Predictable, sure, but the nuts & bolts of human psychology nonetheless.
I do think Ferriss tied up the book a little too neatly. Things worked out a little too perfectly for my imperfect and off-kilter taste. The necessary money was just a little too easy to get. The mom was just a little too ready to help, after having been critical & hurtful because Brooke didn't turn out how she planned. Alex went from one conviction to the other a little too easily to believe. Too neat. Too tidy. Too wrapped up nicely in a box (see, there's the pun again). I like ambiguity, and the impossibility of fixing things...of finding a balance in some relationships. Truthfully, a bit more of that would have made this book stronger. There was plenty of struggle, but in the end, it was just a bit too easy to "fix."
I read a number of reviews of this book, with varying degrees of criticism, and the one that stuck out to me was the one complaining about the characters always looking back instead of putting the past behind them. That is an impossible expectation for real life, and to wish it for a book is to wish for a different sort of book. In that respect, I think the author got it right. I think the author understood, and conveyed in a reasonably convincing way, how trauma can change you, and how just putting it behind you & moving forward into your future life is not always easy, or even always possible. Brooke & Alex experienced something AS TEENS that most adults would be traumatized by, and their attempts to tuck it into a little box and set it aside (no pun intended) damaged them as much as...well, I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it yet. So it is hardly unpredictable that their lives would start to unravel, and hardly surprising that their quest for peace would take them back to the beginning. That is human psychology in a nutshell. Predictable, sure, but the nuts & bolts of human psychology nonetheless.
I do think Ferriss tied up the book a little too neatly. Things worked out a little too perfectly for my imperfect and off-kilter taste. The necessary money was just a little too easy to get. The mom was just a little too ready to help, after having been critical & hurtful because Brooke didn't turn out how she planned. Alex went from one conviction to the other a little too easily to believe. Too neat. Too tidy. Too wrapped up nicely in a box (see, there's the pun again). I like ambiguity, and the impossibility of fixing things...of finding a balance in some relationships. Truthfully, a bit more of that would have made this book stronger. There was plenty of struggle, but in the end, it was just a bit too easy to "fix."
April 7, 2015
I talked to several friends who read this before me and both said that they felt it started out slow. I was delighted to discover that I felt the opposite. The story gripped me at the beginning and I was eager to read more. However, as the book progressed, I felt like I got bogged down in too many story lines. I know most books have a main issue that the author writes around and has subsequent smaller ones but I struggled with what seemed like many important issues and it seemed a little tedious. And to be honest, the word "tedious" is the only word I can think of to describe the main character, Brooke's, husband Sean. At some point, I realized that if I knew him in real life, I'd probably leave a room if he walked in and send a snarky text about him to someone else who knew both of us. He came off as whiny and sniveling. I also had a really hard time with the instance of domestic abuse that was kind of blown off as, "Well, I pushed him..." How many can a woman in an abusive marriage look back to that first time and thought, "If I wouldn't have excused it the FIRST time..." Anyhow, at the end of the book, when everything falls neatly into place, it was obvious that Sean was supposed to be one of the long-suffering heroes in the book but I just couldn't buy into it.
On the positive, the story line dealing with young love and bad decisions kept me reading and there were several minor characters (Lorenzo, the nursery owner and Charlie, Brooke's first love's younger sister) who I found myself attached to and looking for the next time they entered the story.
This is something to pick up for a beach or porch read if you're willing to hang in there with a busy story line while getting to the good stuff.
On the positive, the story line dealing with young love and bad decisions kept me reading and there were several minor characters (Lorenzo, the nursery owner and Charlie, Brooke's first love's younger sister) who I found myself attached to and looking for the next time they entered the story.
This is something to pick up for a beach or porch read if you're willing to hang in there with a busy story line while getting to the good stuff.
June 11, 2012
While in high school Brooke finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. Alex, her high school sweetheart, finds himself in the horrible place of having to deliver prematurely the baby in a seedy hotel room. Having hidden the pregnancy no one realizes that they just dispose of the newborn.
Fifteen years later, Brooke is married and has a daughter with her husband, Sean. Alex is recently divorced after suffering the death of his young son. Neither Alex nor Brooke have shared the burden of their secret with anyone else in the lives. His reappearance in her life has begun to threaten her current life. Brooke and Alex must not confront what they have been unable to face. While searching for the truth Brooke finds what she believed to have happen to not be the whole truth. In finding the truth, Brooke and Alex both find the strength to move forward with their lives and find the happiness they both have denied themselves.
The emotions in this novel tugged at my heart from the very first page. The relationships between all the characters were very painful and felt extremely real. I felt myself being pulled deeper and deeper in Brooke and Sean’s family problems. Feeling Brookes fear and pain as she searches for the truth of what happen to her baby that horrible night in the hotel and her fear in how her husband and family will react to knowing what happen. The Lost Daughter is amazing. Such sensitive subjects being brought up so tastefully and carefully. If you enjoy and great read with a deep and beautifully written story this is a book for you.
January 13, 2013
Sometimes we are so lost in our past that it is impossible to fully live in the present. That is what Lucy Ferriss reminds us of in her amazing story THE LOST DAUGHTER. We meet Brooke and Alex: two individuals who have been joined by pain, grief and shame and have not been able to wash themselves of a horrible occurrence in their lives that affects everything that they do. Even after they have moved on in other relationships, they are joined to the hurt of the past, and new challenges in their lives threaten to destroy all that they have become and have gained.
THE LOST DAUGHTER takes us on an emotional experience of these two individuals as well as the additional characters we meet along the way that unite them not only to a dark chapter of their lives but to a truth they may not be ready to accept. What Ferriss has done in this amazing piece of work is remind us all of our own brokenness, and how no matter what we might achieve or who we might become, there are some things that will never go away. They have to be addressed before real healing can take place.
I read this book several months ago, and have shared my thoughts on it with others. It just now that I am sitting down to post my review here, hoping that others will experience the treasure that I found while reading it. Conversations selected this title as one of its Top 100 Books of 2012. Take the time to read it, and I think you'll understand why.
Without a doubt I found a real treasure in Lucy Ferriss' THE LOST DAUGHTER.
THE LOST DAUGHTER takes us on an emotional experience of these two individuals as well as the additional characters we meet along the way that unite them not only to a dark chapter of their lives but to a truth they may not be ready to accept. What Ferriss has done in this amazing piece of work is remind us all of our own brokenness, and how no matter what we might achieve or who we might become, there are some things that will never go away. They have to be addressed before real healing can take place.
I read this book several months ago, and have shared my thoughts on it with others. It just now that I am sitting down to post my review here, hoping that others will experience the treasure that I found while reading it. Conversations selected this title as one of its Top 100 Books of 2012. Take the time to read it, and I think you'll understand why.
Without a doubt I found a real treasure in Lucy Ferriss' THE LOST DAUGHTER.
November 9, 2014
This book was completely different from what I expected. I had assumed from the title that it was about a daughter who goes missing, but as you find immediately in the prologue that isn't the case at all. This did throw me for a bit, and while I've always had a bit of a fascination reading about kidnappings or missing children, I was more than up for the actual story.
This book did start out extremely slow though. It's one of those books where you want to scream at the characters, "Just talk to eachother!!!" because that would solve their differences. Of course it would also make a very short book, but still it's so frustrating to read something like that.
Except then halfway through the book there was a turn I wasn't expecting, one that completely changed the pace of the book. From that point on I really didn't want to put the book down because I just had to know how things would end up.
I'm glad I wound up sticking with this book because overall I enjoyed it. I realize it's a bit of work to get through the first bits, but I think if you continue you'll appreciate it as well. It's interesting coming up with a rating, because if I was rating just the first half it would likely be around a 3.5, but based on the second half I felt like a 5, so I'm having to come in between. Either way, even with the first half, it's one I know I'll look back on a bit fondly.
This book did start out extremely slow though. It's one of those books where you want to scream at the characters, "Just talk to eachother!!!" because that would solve their differences. Of course it would also make a very short book, but still it's so frustrating to read something like that.
Except then halfway through the book there was a turn I wasn't expecting, one that completely changed the pace of the book. From that point on I really didn't want to put the book down because I just had to know how things would end up.
I'm glad I wound up sticking with this book because overall I enjoyed it. I realize it's a bit of work to get through the first bits, but I think if you continue you'll appreciate it as well. It's interesting coming up with a rating, because if I was rating just the first half it would likely be around a 3.5, but based on the second half I felt like a 5, so I'm having to come in between. Either way, even with the first half, it's one I know I'll look back on a bit fondly.
April 6, 2012
I'd heard amazing things about this book so I was eager to read it. Came across a copy at work and instantly dove in. My hopes were high, but unfortunately not met. While the premise of the plot was a good one - (a teenage couple hide a pregnancy and then dispose of the child believing that she is the victim of a stillbirth and carry the weight and secret of their guilt around with them into their adult lives - a weight and guilt that affects all of their decisions and relationships in the future until they are forced to confront their past mistakes) - somewhere around half way through the book, the plot just fell apart for me. Suddenly - the events in the book seemed less and less plausible (ie: Brooke just happens to stumble upon her abandoned child after fifteen years and knows INSTANTLY who she is and Alex happens to stumble into the exact city/alley where the woman who found his child is being raped)and I found my interest waning. I wish Ferriss hadn't made everything so easy for her characters - where they literally stumbled over the answers they needed. On the up side, the entire book was very well written.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 10, 2012
I was tricked into reading this book by Wally Lamb. I appreciate his warm words on the cover more than I do the book itself. The story begins with two kids and a thwarted birth in a motel. Fifteen years later, they deal with the consequences. A great deal of suffering is talked about as the plot develops into two and a half families, two severely disabled young women, and a rich stew of emotions bubbling away. But I didn't feel much of it. The upper-middle-middle class families were predictably unreal and borderline cold; the lower (working) class families were rough and warm once they were impressed enough to open up a bit. I did like Najda, the most challenged of the lot. She was smart and spunky and full of heart as well as as tough as she could be. A fine character. As the story wound down, all of the complications were solved by money and attention and everything seemed awfully pat to me. I rate this book as a 2, but Najda gets a 4.
December 30, 2012
A slower start but a good book. Takes you through a lot of emotions for all of the main characters. I can see why some got angry when reading this book but if it gets you that worked up then it must be well written. It is not a fairy tale or love story but a story of bad choices and how the two deal with their choices and roles in those choices throughout the next 15 years. I kept reading to see how they would try to find or find closure from these events. It puts characters to some of the most saddening stories in the headlines.
November 13, 2014
I started reading this book while vacationing in New England. I lived in Hartford for several years and had no idea the book was set in that location. I finished reading it driving home along 80 through Scranton. It was all a bit surreal. All that being said I didn't love the characters. Really wanted to ring their necks for their intelligence and abhorrent stupidity. But I appreciated they were flawed in very real ways and the story took twists that were not always expected. In the end it was a more than decent read and not simply due to nostalgia.
July 25, 2014
I read the first chapter three weeks ago. It was a very interesting chapter which would normally have caught my attention to keep reading. However I was convinced that I knew just how the book would progress & what the outcome would be. Didn't touch it after that for three weeks. Spoke to my daughter who had also read it. She said she had felt the same way at first. She urged me to keep reading it. I'm glad I did. Several interesting twists & surprises that I was not expecting. Once I picked it back up, I had a hard time putting it down. Very good book.
September 19, 2012
This book started off graphically, but I found it interesting from start to finish. A story of love, loss, guilt, and redemption, the characters were well drawn - mostly just regular people who try to do their best. Like people everywhere, along the way some of them make bad assumptions and big mistakes. Brooke and Alex were tragic but very real characters. I found the characters Sean, Najda, and the old Polish grandfather especially memorable.
December 12, 2015
While this was hard to read at times, yet I found it hard to put down. Brooke and Alex made bad choices while they are young and stupid that effects the rest of their life. They went their separate ways back then but after a divorce and the loss of his son, Alex returns to make things right. Brooke must face the truth of what she did so she can forgive herself and move forward. A haunting and emotional read.
December 17, 2012
Give this book time. At about 120 pages or so, it becomes riveting and stays that way for the rest of its story. I admit, I wanted to drop kick all of the main characters in those first 120 or so pages, and still kinda wanted to drop kick most of them after that, but I got to understand them better, and the book was well worth reading.
January 13, 2015
There is something to be said for this authors ability to create such strong contrasting characters. Their culture and background is identifiable but not suffocating. Some may not be able to handle the graphic nature of this but if you can, this book feels real. It touches on a very raw emotion in us all; guilt. You'll think of the characters for days after and grieve with them.
March 10, 2015
This book is a flop. First, what isn't predictable is not realistic and is really disgusting. Whether you are for or against abortion, two teenagers could not bring about a 3rd trimester abortion with a spoon. There was a lot of detail in the book that was put in there to lengthen the story, it seemed. This is not well written. I will not read another book by this author.
April 3, 2015
Started out slow. I can see how the opening could be offensive and turn off some readers. I persisted thru it and came out a fan of this book. In the beginning I just wanted to tell the main characters to get over it and move on with their lives. Keep reading--it gets better and redeems itself for the slow start.
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