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Thin Air
Set on a farm on Ireland’s West Coast, this gripping novel by Kate Thompson revolves around a missing teenager—and the shattering effect of her disappearance upon her family and friends
Nineteen-year-old Martina Keane has vanished, seemingly into thin air.
She rode off one morning, and her horse, Specks, came home without her. Martina’s father, Gerard, soon falls under suspicion, and her mother, Brigid, finds she must reevaluate her narrow, materialist existence. With their world turned upside down and their parents emotionally absent, Martina’s teenaged brother, Joseph, and their younger sister, Aine, are left to deal with the disaster in their own, very different ways.
Set on the borderlines of the modern and the traditional, the material and the mythical, Thin Air is the story of a family coming apart at the seams . . . and coming together again.
Nineteen-year-old Martina Keane has vanished, seemingly into thin air.
She rode off one morning, and her horse, Specks, came home without her. Martina’s father, Gerard, soon falls under suspicion, and her mother, Brigid, finds she must reevaluate her narrow, materialist existence. With their world turned upside down and their parents emotionally absent, Martina’s teenaged brother, Joseph, and their younger sister, Aine, are left to deal with the disaster in their own, very different ways.
Set on the borderlines of the modern and the traditional, the material and the mythical, Thin Air is the story of a family coming apart at the seams . . . and coming together again.
- GenresMystery
278 pages, ebook
First published February 17, 2000
25 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Kate Thompson
65 books153 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Kate Thompson is an award-winning writer for children and adults.She has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. She is the youngest child of the social historians and peace activists E. P. Thompson and Dorothy Towers. She worked with horses and travelled in India before settling in the west of Ireland with her partner Conor. They have two daughters, Cliodhna and Dearbhla. She is an accomplished fiddler with an interest in Irish traditional music, reflected in The New Policeman.
While Kate Thompson's children's fiction is primarily fantasy, several of her books also deal with the consequences of genetic engineering.
She has won the Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award four times, for The Beguilers, The Alchemist's Apprentice, Annan Water and The New Policeman. The New Policeman was also awarded the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Dublin Airport Authority Children's Book of the Year Award for 2005.
Kate Thompson is an award-winning writer for children and adults.She has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. She is the youngest child of the social historians and peace activists E. P. Thompson and Dorothy Towers. She worked with horses and travelled in India before settling in the west of Ireland with her partner Conor. They have two daughters, Cliodhna and Dearbhla. She is an accomplished fiddler with an interest in Irish traditional music, reflected in The New Policeman.
While Kate Thompson's children's fiction is primarily fantasy, several of her books also deal with the consequences of genetic engineering.
She has won the Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award four times, for The Beguilers, The Alchemist's Apprentice, Annan Water and The New Policeman. The New Policeman was also awarded the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Dublin Airport Authority Children's Book of the Year Award for 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 11, 2019
Long story short, didn't like it. And honestly I can't really tell why people like it. I mean, it has almost four stars on Goodreads and while I was reading it I was super disgusted and I don't know, I found it creepy, I found it yikes and it just gave me the chills. Not at that it was scary, it wasn't it. Just, how can I say that.... It was raw.
I was confused with all those characters and I was always forgetting who was who with so many names and stuff and I couldn't end up liking anybody. I mean some of them were okay but the "I don't care" okay. I don't know, it started really quick and confusing and then after one or two pages the scenery changed the characters changed for another scene and then they changed again and again and again and just keep on looping and I end up never understanding a thing. And let's not forget most of the scenes were so gross!! Thank goodness, I wasn't eating or drinking while reading it but literally why do people write like that?
I saw this kind of writing in a Greek author too and again I was super gross and I saw that people liked that one too. Can anyone, please, tell me what's good about these writing? I don't know it just confused me and I'm sad about that because when I start reading a book, even if it's a hated book, I start wanting to enjoy it and feeling like I'm going to enjoy even a little bit of it. This time I didn't enjoy anything, apart its length cuz it was a really short book and I didn't waste much time.
I've never read anything else from Miss Thompson so I don't know if that's how she writes in general but I'm willing to give her one more chance. I mean if I find a book that sounds interesting (If you know one please leave the title in the comments)
The actual reason why I'm sad it's because this book was a gift from my sister and I really wanted to enjoy it but it just didn't do me the favor. With all that being said I can't give this book more than 1/5
I was confused with all those characters and I was always forgetting who was who with so many names and stuff and I couldn't end up liking anybody. I mean some of them were okay but the "I don't care" okay. I don't know, it started really quick and confusing and then after one or two pages the scenery changed the characters changed for another scene and then they changed again and again and again and just keep on looping and I end up never understanding a thing. And let's not forget most of the scenes were so gross!! Thank goodness, I wasn't eating or drinking while reading it but literally why do people write like that?
I saw this kind of writing in a Greek author too and again I was super gross and I saw that people liked that one too. Can anyone, please, tell me what's good about these writing? I don't know it just confused me and I'm sad about that because when I start reading a book, even if it's a hated book, I start wanting to enjoy it and feeling like I'm going to enjoy even a little bit of it. This time I didn't enjoy anything, apart its length cuz it was a really short book and I didn't waste much time.
I've never read anything else from Miss Thompson so I don't know if that's how she writes in general but I'm willing to give her one more chance. I mean if I find a book that sounds interesting (If you know one please leave the title in the comments)
The actual reason why I'm sad it's because this book was a gift from my sister and I really wanted to enjoy it but it just didn't do me the favor. With all that being said I can't give this book more than 1/5
August 14, 2020
There is probably a point to this book, if someone looks long and hard, the same way water stains on a wall sometimes depict something. Try as I might, however, I couldn't find it. Skipped most of it to make it to the end in order to understand what the writer wanted to convey. Turns out the writer wanted to create an atmosphere, which is good and fine... as long as there is also a plot. Error 404: plot not found.
I'll be brief. Thin Air is boring, confusing, moody and pretty much pointless. The point of view changes constantly, almost everyone is regretful and depressed, and all the characters are non-sexual, allergic to sex, sickened by sex and/or sex-starved. The book even begins with a narrowly escaped rape, and it gets weirder and worse. Other than that, everything can be summed up in one sentence: try not to be a shitty parent, because if something happens, you'll feel awful. I wish I liked the particular character, or any of the characters, in order to care. I didn't. I felt I was sinking in mire while having an intense episode of brain fog, interrupted by passing images of Ireland's landscapes, adorned by horses and manure. Plenty of both. Oh, and swans. In a polluted lake.
The blurb at the back was the only remotely interesting aspect of this whole experience. Unfortunately, the blurb talks about fairies and gates and the book is about a missing person. Um, pray tell, why? If I knew what the book was really about, I might or might not have not bothered reading it, but at least I would not have expected a modern fairy tale to be force-fed instead mid-life anguish and family drama.
I'll be brief. Thin Air is boring, confusing, moody and pretty much pointless. The point of view changes constantly, almost everyone is regretful and depressed, and all the characters are non-sexual, allergic to sex, sickened by sex and/or sex-starved. The book even begins with a narrowly escaped rape, and it gets weirder and worse. Other than that, everything can be summed up in one sentence: try not to be a shitty parent, because if something happens, you'll feel awful. I wish I liked the particular character, or any of the characters, in order to care. I didn't. I felt I was sinking in mire while having an intense episode of brain fog, interrupted by passing images of Ireland's landscapes, adorned by horses and manure. Plenty of both. Oh, and swans. In a polluted lake.
The blurb at the back was the only remotely interesting aspect of this whole experience. Unfortunately, the blurb talks about fairies and gates and the book is about a missing person. Um, pray tell, why? If I knew what the book was really about, I might or might not have not bothered reading it, but at least I would not have expected a modern fairy tale to be force-fed instead mid-life anguish and family drama.
August 17, 2010
A wonderfully, moody atmospheric mystery ... felt transported to the wild coast of Ireland ...
April 28, 2017
Evocative, atmospheric story with sympathetic believable characters. Just too many questions left unanswered!
May 18, 2022
A story about various family members and how they deal with one of their family members (Martina) goes missing. We never get to meet Martina but we see the effects of her mysterious disappearance on each family member. Each person reacts differently and feels different things. It is really a story about members of the family rather than the mystery itself. Each has to come to terms with the fact that Martina will not return.
dnf
December 23, 2019Η περίληψη δεν έχει καμία σχέση με την ιστορία.
Αντί για βιβλίο φαντασίας με βάση την ιρλανδική μυθολογία είναι στην ουσία μια ιστορία για το πως αντιμετωπίζει μια οικογένεια την εξαφάνιση της κόρης τους.
Βαρετό και μπερδεμένο ανάγνωσμα που προσπαθεί να δημιουργήσει ατμόσφαιρα αλλά αποτυγχάνει παταγωδώς.
Thank you, next.
Αντί για βιβλίο φαντασίας με βάση την ιρλανδική μυθολογία είναι στην ουσία μια ιστορία για το πως αντιμετωπίζει μια οικογένεια την εξαφάνιση της κόρης τους.
Βαρετό και μπερδεμένο ανάγνωσμα που προσπαθεί να δημιουργήσει ατμόσφαιρα αλλά αποτυγχάνει παταγωδώς.
Thank you, next.
February 11, 2024
Είναι από τα βιβλία που δεν έχουν τέλος. Εξαφανίστηκε η κοπέλα αλλά στο τέλος δεν μας εξηγεί τα γεγονότα που έγιναν, αλλά μόνο παρακολουθούμε την οικογένεια πώς βιώνει και πώς διαχειρίζεται την απουσία. Θα έβαζα και τρίτο αστέρι αν υπήρχε τέλος γιατί γενικά δεν ήταν κακή προσπάθεια.
April 8, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. It was different and had an unexpected ending. I loved the personal growth of the characters, which was also an unexpected result of the disappearance.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews