Read Women discussion

This is our discussion thread for our June fiction selection, The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld. Louise will be leading the discussion this month, but I just wanted to go ahead and open the thread up.

The Child Finder

"Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or is it possible you are still alive?"

Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now, if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope.
Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too.
As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?
Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive. (Goodreads)

Rene Denfeld
Rene Denfeld is the bestselling author of THE CHILD FINDER, THE ENCHANTED and thee THE BUTTERFLY GIRL, which Margaret Atwood raved on twitter is "a heartbreaking, finger-gnawing, yet ultimately hopeful novel."

Rene's poetic fiction has won numerous awards including the French Prix, an ALA Medal for Excellence and an IMPAC listing. Rene works as an investigator, including exonerating innocents from prison and helping sex trafficking victims. Rene has also been a foster parent for 20 years, and is the happy mother to several children adopted from foster care. In 2017 she was awarded the Break The Silence Award for her advocacy work, and the New York Times named her hero of the year.(Goodreads)

Sounds like this book will also work for our Q2 Retellings/Mystery challenge for those participating in that ;)

"Sounds like this book will also work for our Q2 Retellings/Mystery challenge for those participating in that ;)"

Phew! I'm really struggling with that challenge : )

Franklinbadger wrote: "Phew! I'm really struggling with that challenge : )"

Me too Franklinbadger. Usually I'm great with retellings, but I've only managed to squeeze in a couple. Mystery/Thriller is an off genre for me, but I usually enjoy reading them when I'm nudged to by a group. Just another reason I truly appreciate this group - I get these nudges to read outside of my usual boxes.

I'm enjoying this read so far, though not really the content? But looking at the author's bio, I can see this is a passionate subject for her and I think she handles it so well. There is no gratuitous violence or imagery yet she doesn't shy away from writing about the topic of missing and abducted children.

Also, while on this investigation, Naomi's past is slightly unraveled. So the character building for the series (I'm assuming as this is labeled #1) has already got me interested in sequels.

How is everyone getting on with this? I'm having the worst reading slump of my life - probably lockdown fatigue - and could really do with some motivation!

Franklinbadger wrote: "How is everyone getting on with this? I'm having the worst reading slump of my life - probably lockdown fatigue - and could really do with some motivation!"

I already finished it! I feel you on the reading slump, I was just looking, aghast, at my growing-not-dwindling tbr shelf. (One of my goals this year was to read it down from 406 - I've read something like 140 books and my tbr is at 356...)

Thriller/ mystery isn't a usual read for me, but I enjoyed it. I think there's something to be said about the writing of these types of stories, the author works hard at keepong the reader riveted or at least intrigued. Good luck getting out of the dreaded slump.

Thank you, Anita! (My TBR shelf has around 650 books, so I'm not judging! : ) )

Anita wrote: ... the author works hard at keeping the reader riveted or at least intrigued "

Hello, for me, I would say maybe intrigued but definitely not riveted as we get a pretty good idea of who the kidnapper is rapidly.

Personally, I did not enjoy this multi-plot story as the reader is taken on the search for Madison with Naomi but at the same time we are taken back into her youth and personal story, while also getting to know how Madison is coping with her kidnapper, and finally we are taken into another case of disappearance which Naomi is also trying to solve simultaneously. I did not feel that this latter plot brought anything to the story or to character building; it felt like the main character was trying to get away from her personal decisions as some sort of distraction.

Another thing I did not like is about the character of Madison who is a 5-year-old girl when she is abducted and who gets on a relationship with her kidnapper throughout the three years she remained under his will. Although the writer is an expert on such situations and therefore knows very well on the Stockholm syndrome, I did not find it entirely plausible in that such a little girl could keep on reading and writing as if nothing, for example. Did anyone have that same impression?