What do you think?
Rate this book
All the Things We Leave Behind
A novel of absence and adolescence by the author of the award-winning "The Town That Drowned."
It's 1977. Seventeen-year-old Violet is left behind by her parents to manage their busy roadside antique business for the summer. Her restless older brother, Bliss, has disappeared, leaving home without warning, and her parents are off searching for clues. Violet is haunted by her brother's absence while trying to cope with her new responsibilities. Between visiting a local hermit, who makes twig furniture for the shop, and finding a way to land the contents of the coveted Vaughn estate, Violet acts out with her summer boyfriend, Dean, and wonders about the mysterious boneyard. But what really keeps her up at night are thoughts of Bliss's departure and the white deer, which only she has seen.
"All the Things We Leave Behind" is about remembrance and attachment, about what we collect and what we leave behind. In this highly affecting novel, Nason explores the permeability of memory and the sometimes confusing bonds of human emotion. - 20160303
It's 1977. Seventeen-year-old Violet is left behind by her parents to manage their busy roadside antique business for the summer. Her restless older brother, Bliss, has disappeared, leaving home without warning, and her parents are off searching for clues. Violet is haunted by her brother's absence while trying to cope with her new responsibilities. Between visiting a local hermit, who makes twig furniture for the shop, and finding a way to land the contents of the coveted Vaughn estate, Violet acts out with her summer boyfriend, Dean, and wonders about the mysterious boneyard. But what really keeps her up at night are thoughts of Bliss's departure and the white deer, which only she has seen.
"All the Things We Leave Behind" is about remembrance and attachment, about what we collect and what we leave behind. In this highly affecting novel, Nason explores the permeability of memory and the sometimes confusing bonds of human emotion. - 20160303
240 pages, Paperback
Published September 13, 2016
6 people are currently reading
516 people want to read
About the author
Riel Nason
11 books128 followersRiel Nason writes for both children and adults. She lives in NB, Canada with her family.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 6, 2016
Excellent! If you haven't read 'The Town That Drowned', it isn't exactly necessary to read it before this one, but boy, it certainly adds a lot to the experience. This is a great book for anyone who is lives in, or is from New Brunswick - Reil does an incredible job vividly describing the natural beauty of this province. From the Saint John river to the wildlife, her writing transports you right into the scenes. And if you aren't from NB, this book will definitely make you want to pay us a visit!
The setting is a typical small-town, one that we have all driven through or visited, and its easy to picture the big antique barn on the side of highway that most of the book is centered around. I loved the setting, but I felt the true hallmark of this book are the characters. The plot really develops through the main character, Violet. Her family, friends and their familial bonds and relationships are realistic and easy to relate to.
In the same way Riel explored autism in her first novel, depression and mood disorders are really brought to the forefront in this book. As many of us know someone or struggle ourselves with this illness, in this book the topic is given the respect and attention it deserves, as well as de-stigmatising some of the myths surrounding it. Violet's relationship with her brother is dynamic and I loved the way it develops and you learn about different aspects of it as the book moves along. Experiences they had growing up are explored through Violet's flashbacks and memories, and if you have close siblings, you will certainly love this part of the book as much as I did. Overall, this book is a solid effort and fans of Riel's will not be disappointed. You can almost smell the outdoors, fine antiques, and sea air in the pages! Good job, Riel!!!
The setting is a typical small-town, one that we have all driven through or visited, and its easy to picture the big antique barn on the side of highway that most of the book is centered around. I loved the setting, but I felt the true hallmark of this book are the characters. The plot really develops through the main character, Violet. Her family, friends and their familial bonds and relationships are realistic and easy to relate to.
In the same way Riel explored autism in her first novel, depression and mood disorders are really brought to the forefront in this book. As many of us know someone or struggle ourselves with this illness, in this book the topic is given the respect and attention it deserves, as well as de-stigmatising some of the myths surrounding it. Violet's relationship with her brother is dynamic and I loved the way it develops and you learn about different aspects of it as the book moves along. Experiences they had growing up are explored through Violet's flashbacks and memories, and if you have close siblings, you will certainly love this part of the book as much as I did. Overall, this book is a solid effort and fans of Riel's will not be disappointed. You can almost smell the outdoors, fine antiques, and sea air in the pages! Good job, Riel!!!
November 6, 2016
There is just something about the quiet way Riel Nason tells stories that I really love. By the end, I am so engrossed in the story, I can't put it down. Normally I prefer plot driven stories, but these character driven books of hers stay with me long after I read them.
January 13, 2017
Like Riel's earlier novel, this is a compelling story. She is a fine storyteller and I enjoyed this novel very much.
August 2, 2017
Wow, did I ever love this book! The story is hauntingly compelling, the writing is wonderful and, despite the supernatural elements, the whole thing comes across as being totally, achingly believable. I loved the characters too, not one of whom felt like a cliche. This story will stay with me for a very long time, I'm sure, and I can't recommend it highly enough. (I haven't read The Town That Drowned yet, but after reading this book, I definitely plan to do so!)
September 13, 2017
What a beautiful story that just fills you with various emotions. I read a variety of books and sometimes I get caught up in wanting a book to have intrigue, and twists and deception and quirks. Riel's books tell a story. Pure and simple. She tells them beautifully too. There are quirky characters, the story might have a wee twist but overall it is just fantastic story telling. You don't have to read and wonder if you missed something in the fine print or feel the rug will be pulled out from under you. The words flow and you are engrossed in the moment, not thinking about where you are headed. When you get to the end, you feel content that all of the characters had a purpose and they were real. Thanks again, Riel Nason, for a wonderful read. I was a fan of The Town that Drowned and equally enjoyed this new one. I would highly recommend others give it a read.
July 25, 2017
Thank you, Riel Nason. First, The Town That Drowned and now All the Things We Leave Behind. Characters that live in my heart and destroy me with their stories. <3
February 27, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Great characters and wonderful rendition of the Maritime Provinces in the 70s.
September 13, 2016
Riel Nason has crafted an exquisite novel in All The Things We Leave Behind. She has taken of flurry of thoughts and emotions and laid them out in a simple and linear fashion that gives any reader something to ponder and reflect on. In short, a great piece of literature.
http://tinyurl.com/zmn2bo7
http://tinyurl.com/zmn2bo7
September 16, 2024
Riel Nason’s book, All the Things We Leave Behind, is essentially a story about mental health. It’s handled well.
The story takes place in the early 1970s, at a time when Canada was ten years into having closed its psychiatric institutions and hospitals. What this change in Canadian health policy meant was that those with any kind of, what today we consider, mental health problems had to either go it alone, or, if lucky, to rely on their families. Basically, they were kicking people with mental health problems onto the street. And without professional medical care prospects were dim. Making matters infinitely worse, even the notion of being mentally ill was looked down upon: even the postpartum blues, which may not even have had a clinical name then – that severe depression women could suffer following a birth – was deemed a lapse and an embarrassment. Matters were even far worse in small towns which have no such services except for access to perhaps a family physician. Riverbend, where this story takes place, is that typical small town requiring a road trip to a relatively larger New Brunswick metropolis, Frederickton, that is a city which could potentially provide access to more advanced medical services such as those requiring psychological or psychiatric help.
In this story, Bliss seems to begin his descent into hell as he begins to experience a darkness that seemed to have coincided with the onset of puberty. There is though a pivotal moment that seems to have triggered it all. Bliss and his younger sister, Violet, had moved to Riverbend when their father relocated his antique business from Frederickton. He had happened upon an unused barn that he bought, furbished and painted violet in honour of his daughter, naming it The Purple Barn. Passing tourists found it a fascinating spot, a spider-web of temptation for those who were travelling though New Brunswick from either Quebec or the United States on their way to places in Eastern Canada or Maine. The kids, just 9 and 7 respectively, spend much of their free time playing in a meadow behind the barn and, as they grow older, a forest that they begin to explore and learn to love. Years go by with them gradually venturing ever more deeply into the Pied Beauty that the forest had become for them. One day they happen upon the famed Boneyard. It is an awful spot. Imagine this massive dugout off the highway in which the bodies of animals, victims of roadkill, are dumped. It is a gruesome sight, and while Bliss tries to protect his sister from seeing it, succeeding, the shock and horror and disgust of it all sear into Bliss’ mind and imagination. And it triggers in him what seems to be a latent depression. Bliss sums up his feelings as simply ‘when something beautiful dies’.
Bliss was justifiably devastated, and over time the horror becomes a morbid obsession. His sister Violet is the only one who seems to be aware of Bliss’ struggle. His parents, and those horrible aunts we all seem to have, simply called it, dismissively, as being a moody teenager. The story begins then, when immediately following Bliss’s high school graduation and post-grad party, he disappears. ‘Gone on an adventure’, says a note Bliss leaves for Violet, who discovers it only three days later. To his parents’ chagrin he leaves only this brief note for his sister, perhaps in appreciation of her awareness of his struggle and her willingness to listen and even empathize with him. But it seems that in not communicating his decision with his parents Bliss purposely inflicts a kind of punishment on them for their having been so oblivious to his mental anguish. They were busy running a successful antique shop and they had that other sin too, one perhaps that was especially important in a small-town setting - that of keeping up appearances. This kicks off another aspect of the story when her parents leave Violet home while they go in search of their son. Although only about seventeen and preparing to go to University in the Fall she is easily capable of keeping their antique business running and overseeing her father’s three employees. So Violet spends her summer this way, reflecting as well on her close relationship with Bliss, both past and present, and that is the heart of the story.
Those with mental health issues can sometimes be outright scary. Some use it as a façade masking a dangerous psychosis. When I learned some time ago that the great prophet Ezekiel used to run around naked, it was easy to visualize distraught parents hiding this traumatizing view from their children. But in the mental brokenness there can be a gentleness and an extraordinary attraction. The book has dedicatory page with an excerpt from poet and Jesuit Gerald Manley Hopkins’s poem, Pied Beauty which starts off with Glory be to God for dappled things, and it is in the second paragraph that he touches, I think, on the beauty that Violet enjoyed in her brother in spite of his illness:
All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change.
Which to me addresses the conundrum we face in seeing anyone who seems broken, whereas in reality maybe they are just different, seeing life differently and perhaps feeling it differently and maybe more truly than we, the normal ones, are capable of.
Edwin
The story takes place in the early 1970s, at a time when Canada was ten years into having closed its psychiatric institutions and hospitals. What this change in Canadian health policy meant was that those with any kind of, what today we consider, mental health problems had to either go it alone, or, if lucky, to rely on their families. Basically, they were kicking people with mental health problems onto the street. And without professional medical care prospects were dim. Making matters infinitely worse, even the notion of being mentally ill was looked down upon: even the postpartum blues, which may not even have had a clinical name then – that severe depression women could suffer following a birth – was deemed a lapse and an embarrassment. Matters were even far worse in small towns which have no such services except for access to perhaps a family physician. Riverbend, where this story takes place, is that typical small town requiring a road trip to a relatively larger New Brunswick metropolis, Frederickton, that is a city which could potentially provide access to more advanced medical services such as those requiring psychological or psychiatric help.
In this story, Bliss seems to begin his descent into hell as he begins to experience a darkness that seemed to have coincided with the onset of puberty. There is though a pivotal moment that seems to have triggered it all. Bliss and his younger sister, Violet, had moved to Riverbend when their father relocated his antique business from Frederickton. He had happened upon an unused barn that he bought, furbished and painted violet in honour of his daughter, naming it The Purple Barn. Passing tourists found it a fascinating spot, a spider-web of temptation for those who were travelling though New Brunswick from either Quebec or the United States on their way to places in Eastern Canada or Maine. The kids, just 9 and 7 respectively, spend much of their free time playing in a meadow behind the barn and, as they grow older, a forest that they begin to explore and learn to love. Years go by with them gradually venturing ever more deeply into the Pied Beauty that the forest had become for them. One day they happen upon the famed Boneyard. It is an awful spot. Imagine this massive dugout off the highway in which the bodies of animals, victims of roadkill, are dumped. It is a gruesome sight, and while Bliss tries to protect his sister from seeing it, succeeding, the shock and horror and disgust of it all sear into Bliss’ mind and imagination. And it triggers in him what seems to be a latent depression. Bliss sums up his feelings as simply ‘when something beautiful dies’.
Bliss was justifiably devastated, and over time the horror becomes a morbid obsession. His sister Violet is the only one who seems to be aware of Bliss’ struggle. His parents, and those horrible aunts we all seem to have, simply called it, dismissively, as being a moody teenager. The story begins then, when immediately following Bliss’s high school graduation and post-grad party, he disappears. ‘Gone on an adventure’, says a note Bliss leaves for Violet, who discovers it only three days later. To his parents’ chagrin he leaves only this brief note for his sister, perhaps in appreciation of her awareness of his struggle and her willingness to listen and even empathize with him. But it seems that in not communicating his decision with his parents Bliss purposely inflicts a kind of punishment on them for their having been so oblivious to his mental anguish. They were busy running a successful antique shop and they had that other sin too, one perhaps that was especially important in a small-town setting - that of keeping up appearances. This kicks off another aspect of the story when her parents leave Violet home while they go in search of their son. Although only about seventeen and preparing to go to University in the Fall she is easily capable of keeping their antique business running and overseeing her father’s three employees. So Violet spends her summer this way, reflecting as well on her close relationship with Bliss, both past and present, and that is the heart of the story.
Those with mental health issues can sometimes be outright scary. Some use it as a façade masking a dangerous psychosis. When I learned some time ago that the great prophet Ezekiel used to run around naked, it was easy to visualize distraught parents hiding this traumatizing view from their children. But in the mental brokenness there can be a gentleness and an extraordinary attraction. The book has dedicatory page with an excerpt from poet and Jesuit Gerald Manley Hopkins’s poem, Pied Beauty which starts off with Glory be to God for dappled things, and it is in the second paragraph that he touches, I think, on the beauty that Violet enjoyed in her brother in spite of his illness:
All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change.
Which to me addresses the conundrum we face in seeing anyone who seems broken, whereas in reality maybe they are just different, seeing life differently and perhaps feeling it differently and maybe more truly than we, the normal ones, are capable of.
Edwin
June 1, 2017
This is a great book that should be in every high school library.
July 11, 2020
This book is beautiful. I have no idea where I got it, found it on my bookshelf and was pleasantly surprised to find it is set in NB, the writing is wonderful as well.
July 6, 2017
DON'T TALK TO ME.
I'M STILL NOT OVER THIS.
I'M STILL NOT OVER THIS.
April 14, 2018
I lived for a few years outside Fredericton at Islandview, overlooking the Saint John River and not far from Mactaquac Dam which resulted in the flooding of Hawkshaw New Brunswick. I had no knowledge of the flooding of Hawkshaw or the building of Nackawic as a replacement centre. I only knew how beautiful and mystical and magical the entire Saint John River valley is. This book captured that eerie beauty of the Saint John River Valley and shared many charming facts about the antique industry. Tricks of the trade that Violet's father Charles Davis has learned over the years. Violet struggles with the loss of her brother who left the day after graduation without telling anyone, crushing his mother's spirit. A captivating beautiful mystical book.
August 23, 2018
This is one of the best books I have ever read. It flows easily from beginning to end. The characters are lovable and believable. It was fun to read about New Brunswick. This book centres around depression but never mentions the name. The description Bliss gives his sister is exactly how many of us that experience depression feel.
September 14, 2016
* I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program.
An absolutely mesmerizing read. ALL THE THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND is quite simply brilliant.
Set in the late 1970s in a tiny town in New Brunswick, the story begins with seventeen-year-old Violet reminisces about the childhood adventures she experienced with her brother; Bliss.
The ironically named Bliss has left home and Violet's parents have left to try and track him down. They have left Violet in charge of The Purple Barn which is the family's antique store.
During her childhood, Violet remembers all the times that Bliss would become incredibly sad for no apparent reason. In those days things such as mental illness or depression were not taken as seriously as they are today. (Even though current society still has a long way to go as well.) This book highlights his depression symptoms, without recognizing them for what they were.
With characters such as "Quinny" who is the silver haired old lady hired to work the store's counter and Violet's almost too nice boyfriend: Dean, working alongside her, what could possibly go wrong for Vi?
Violet visits the hermit who lives at the edge of her family's property, and hears about the deer he spotted recently, then she begins seeing an all-white deer which seems to glow in the moonlight. Violet is not sure if she wants the deer sightings to be real or imaginary.
When Violet is tasked with the responsibility for obtaining the items from a legendary local estate, things seem to come to a head.
This book contains so many compelling storylines within the main narrative that you just do not want to put it down.
As a seventies child myself, I couldn't help but feel nostalgia for that time period. With the backdrop being an antiques store, feelings of nostalgia are inevitable, but somehow the author makes it seem as if it is the readers idea which probably will not make sense until you read the book.
This is easily one of the best general fiction books that I have read in a very long time and deserves to be rated much higher than just 5 out of 5 stars. Ten stars seem more fitting, but since that is not an option, I rate this book as 5 out of 5 stars.
To read more of my reviews visit my blog at http://AmiesBookReviews.wordpress.com
An absolutely mesmerizing read. ALL THE THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND is quite simply brilliant.
Set in the late 1970s in a tiny town in New Brunswick, the story begins with seventeen-year-old Violet reminisces about the childhood adventures she experienced with her brother; Bliss.
The ironically named Bliss has left home and Violet's parents have left to try and track him down. They have left Violet in charge of The Purple Barn which is the family's antique store.
During her childhood, Violet remembers all the times that Bliss would become incredibly sad for no apparent reason. In those days things such as mental illness or depression were not taken as seriously as they are today. (Even though current society still has a long way to go as well.) This book highlights his depression symptoms, without recognizing them for what they were.
With characters such as "Quinny" who is the silver haired old lady hired to work the store's counter and Violet's almost too nice boyfriend: Dean, working alongside her, what could possibly go wrong for Vi?
Violet visits the hermit who lives at the edge of her family's property, and hears about the deer he spotted recently, then she begins seeing an all-white deer which seems to glow in the moonlight. Violet is not sure if she wants the deer sightings to be real or imaginary.
When Violet is tasked with the responsibility for obtaining the items from a legendary local estate, things seem to come to a head.
This book contains so many compelling storylines within the main narrative that you just do not want to put it down.
As a seventies child myself, I couldn't help but feel nostalgia for that time period. With the backdrop being an antiques store, feelings of nostalgia are inevitable, but somehow the author makes it seem as if it is the readers idea which probably will not make sense until you read the book.
This is easily one of the best general fiction books that I have read in a very long time and deserves to be rated much higher than just 5 out of 5 stars. Ten stars seem more fitting, but since that is not an option, I rate this book as 5 out of 5 stars.
To read more of my reviews visit my blog at http://AmiesBookReviews.wordpress.com
September 20, 2016
I read the entire last half of this book in one day, because I just needed to know. It deals with a lot of things that are sticking points for me: depression, family, memories, nostalgia, the quest for contentment, secrets, ... old stuff. This book has all the things. It felt like reading my own journal of something I didn't quite remember having experienced. Enjoyed it very much. Love that Riel Nason is writing these beautiful books in and about New Brunswick.
September 2, 2016
"Or maybe it's that we keep some of a loved one's possessions after they've died as a way to deal with what we can't understand. We want to have an object they owned out where we can see it. We want to be sure we know where a few of their things are, because we don't truly know--can't fathom--where they themselves have gone."
This morning on my way to work I happened to pass by 3 deer walking along side the highway headed into the woods. My initial reaction was oh, how beautiful! My second reaction was a heart-wrenching fear of the boneyard.
There are 2 words only to describe this book;
Haunting & Beautiful
It's almost impossible for me to read a book where dialogue is scarce. That wasn't the case for this read. Every word kept you reading. Every page kept you turning. And every chapter kept you breathing. Parts of this story will take bits & pieces of your soul. It sounds scary, but it's not. The empathy you experience is like no other. The curiosity that takes over & all you wish to do is to jump into that book and help; whether it be Violet, Bliss, their parents, or the Vaughn's, the animals of the boneyard, Speckles. Your human instincts want to fight to take pain away.
"I think that's all that Bliss had gone looking for--a more permanent happiness, if such a thing exists. Bliss wondered if changing things outside would help change things inside him too."
....and then you close the book and realize it's fiction.
But the feeling won't leave you. You understand fully exactly what Bliss was going through. You feel you will never unsee it.
This is a book that will stay with you for years. This will be one of the kind that leaves a mark, and alters your beliefs. And I'm so happy to have read it.
October 14, 2016
I rated this book 2 stars. I can't really say "I liked it" as I did with Ms. Nason's previous novel "The Town That Drowned" (4 stars). I found "All the Things" a little aloof. The story just seems to meander along, and it is not until near the end are some of the mysteries in Violet's life solved. Yes, there are lessons about death and the 'things left behind' here, but it doesn't require 240 pages to tell, in my opinion. I think this book could have been edited down to a good short story or a novella.
October 14, 2016
What a beautiful province New Brunswick is and Riel Nason shows this in this sad but memorable book. Depression just is so overpowering for the sufferers and for the people they love. Being so sad when life around you is saying be happy , count your blessings, it could be worse is no consolation for the sufferer. The small town , the antique shop, the characters , the scenery made this a powerful read.
December 9, 2017
Sibling love reduced to its base elements. Summer flings, independence, freedom and the love for your little corner of the world are the main concerns of this wonderful novel. If you fail to fall in love with rural New Brunswick (Canada) by the end of this book, you've not been paying attention....massively great!
October 7, 2016
One of the best books I've ever read! <3
July 28, 2018
What a moving, emotionally engaging book.
I think Nason must be an astute observer of people because her characters had a great deal of depth and read very real. That is an inherently good trait and skill for an author, but especially so for a book such as this one which is more character-driven than plot-driven.
I very much enjoyed and appreciated that while the book centres on young adults/almost adults and is likely aimed at this demographic of reader, Nason still wrote her characters with depth and with actual, meaningful dialogue and interactions between them. I hate it when young adult books feature shallow, sarcastic, characters who are only able to snipe and snark at one another and others around them. Fortunately, Nason took the opposite tack, creating the types of conversations that young people generally have with each other and with others, sometimes agreeing, sometimes disagreeing but speaking like normal people.
Beyond character development, Nason's writing is also very skilled at emotional development. The scenes she created evoked a variety of feelings, sometimes conflicting ones at the same time which shows talent on Nason's part indeed.
The way Nason included and dealt with Bliss's mental illness (likely depression), his description of it, the interactions others had with him about it, etc. also read very real, and in a way that I appreciated; people showed compassion and even if lack of understanding a wanting to understand.
Overall, an extremely well-crafted book. I will certainly look up other books by this author.
Note: I gave this book a full review because this book was published by Goose Lane Editions.
I used to give full reviews for all of the books that I rated on GR. However, GR's new giveaway policies (Good Reads 2017 November Giveaways Policies Changes) have caused me to change my reviewing decisions. These new GR policies seem to harm smaller publishing efforts in favour of providing advantage to the larger companies, (GR Authors' Feedback) the big five publishers (Big Five Publishers). So, because of these new GR policies from now on I will be supporting smaller publishing efforts by only giving full reviews to books published by: publishing businesses outside the big five companies, indie publishers, and self-published authors. This book was published by one of these smaller publishing efforts so I have given it a full review.
I think Nason must be an astute observer of people because her characters had a great deal of depth and read very real. That is an inherently good trait and skill for an author, but especially so for a book such as this one which is more character-driven than plot-driven.
I very much enjoyed and appreciated that while the book centres on young adults/almost adults and is likely aimed at this demographic of reader, Nason still wrote her characters with depth and with actual, meaningful dialogue and interactions between them. I hate it when young adult books feature shallow, sarcastic, characters who are only able to snipe and snark at one another and others around them. Fortunately, Nason took the opposite tack, creating the types of conversations that young people generally have with each other and with others, sometimes agreeing, sometimes disagreeing but speaking like normal people.
Beyond character development, Nason's writing is also very skilled at emotional development. The scenes she created evoked a variety of feelings, sometimes conflicting ones at the same time which shows talent on Nason's part indeed.
The way Nason included and dealt with Bliss's mental illness (likely depression), his description of it, the interactions others had with him about it, etc. also read very real, and in a way that I appreciated; people showed compassion and even if lack of understanding a wanting to understand.
Overall, an extremely well-crafted book. I will certainly look up other books by this author.
Note: I gave this book a full review because this book was published by Goose Lane Editions.
I used to give full reviews for all of the books that I rated on GR. However, GR's new giveaway policies (Good Reads 2017 November Giveaways Policies Changes) have caused me to change my reviewing decisions. These new GR policies seem to harm smaller publishing efforts in favour of providing advantage to the larger companies, (GR Authors' Feedback) the big five publishers (Big Five Publishers). So, because of these new GR policies from now on I will be supporting smaller publishing efforts by only giving full reviews to books published by: publishing businesses outside the big five companies, indie publishers, and self-published authors. This book was published by one of these smaller publishing efforts so I have given it a full review.
February 27, 2017
Really excellent story! A tough subject to tackle, a family with a teenaged son with mental health issues who disappears shortly after his high school graduation. He had hinted he wanted to go exploring and tried once but was foiled by his younger sister. The note was addressed to Vi, short for Violet, explaining he's gone exploring. This was perplexing, why his sister and not to his parents?
The story is set in my home province of New Brunswick and I loved this. Riel Nason has captured life in this province so well. While, I'm not as familiar with the region she's set this book in, it's still part of 'home' for me. Characters are so believable. One, named Quinny was so like someone I've known;)
A good quick read that will keep readers turning the pages and thinking about the story long afterward.
The story is set in my home province of New Brunswick and I loved this. Riel Nason has captured life in this province so well. While, I'm not as familiar with the region she's set this book in, it's still part of 'home' for me. Characters are so believable. One, named Quinny was so like someone I've known;)
A good quick read that will keep readers turning the pages and thinking about the story long afterward.
January 28, 2018
Riel Nason writes well and creates characters who are sympathetic and believable. The setting is so realistic that it made me feel I could go there and buy something at the Purple Barn. However, the plot, which is a simple one to begin with, is repetitious and tedious. I did consider abandonning the book, but struggled on to the ending, which was appropriate, thank goodness, but underwhelming. If it had been a third shorter, I might have given the book three stars.
December 28, 2018
This was a very easy read. I have real mixed feelings about it. The best part of this novel is really how it wound up at the end -- when the author revealed what had happened and the feelings involved with the protagonist (and her parents), I must admit my thoughts of this novel were elevated at that point.
Like I say, mixed feelings though glad I read it.
Like I say, mixed feelings though glad I read it.
January 19, 2019
I loved this book, especially since I know a lot of the places she talks about growing up and going to school in Nackawic. When I was about halfway through the book, I woke up one night and had a thought that I knew what was going to happen. The writing is so descriptive and she has a way of filling out the characters so you feel you know them personally. Can't wait for the next one!
January 7, 2023
This book broke me ways I didn’t know was possible. It’s about family, relationships,friendships. And what happens when one is broke. It even had a plot twist that I enjoyed. I also like how it was set in my province. I’ll be reading more from Riel Nason.
May 28, 2018
3.75 stars. Very impactful read, especially the final chapters.
October 12, 2019
Solid read. Author has a knack with atmosphere.
July 13, 2020
A beautifully written and thought-provoking novel about grief.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews