"Freedom...Its other name is Choosing."
Abduction and Apocalypse - a story of "survival, resilience, and hope."
First off, this novel has little to no similarity to either ROOM or to THE LOVELY BONES. To compare them is to do all of the very different stories an injustice. Start with an open mind.
Blythe is just 16 years old when she is kidnapped and taken down below ground into an abandoned missile silo in Kansas by a disaster survivalist who has created an impenetrable bunker deep in the bowels of the earth. Dobbs Hordin met Blythe when he was working in the Eudora high school library and abducts her while she is walking home from a town celebration. He's completely convinced that armegedon is imminent and has made complex and complicated plans for survival and for propagating the species afterwards. The first part of the book deals with Blythe's life while imprisoned in the silo. Every day and each event that Blythe endures in the dark and stale compartments below the Kansas plain is one of self-sacrifice and infused with desperation for freedom and return to the family and life she knew before. Dobbs makes frequent missions outside of their compound and returns with supplies and news -- but he is not to be trusted so Blythe has no way to know what is really going on in the world above. Blythe struggles as she is first required to be Dobbs's mate and then to raise a child. She tries to stay alive and mentally intact through her memories but all she can think of is getting OUT.
That day of emancipation comes after 17 years in captivity and what she finds when she and Adam open the doors of the silo is not at all what she had prayed for, hoped for, or imagined it would be. The last parts of the book deal with Blythe and Adam as they come face to face with a changed world and try to reconcile all that happened and forge a new existence. To discover that to live might just take more than to survive the worst.
The book is set in current day but sometimes the character of Blythe didn't ring true when compared to teenagers I know -- she seemed much more old-fashioned -- which was sort of off putting. There are serious religious overtones at times in the writing, though the apocalypse isn't suggested to be a punishment, but definitely it is has heavy social commentary. Sometimes the internal dialog that Blythe has with herself seems a stream of consciousness blathering that occasionally went on too long and the reader indeed gets the message that this is not the world whose memories kept Blythe going and to which she wanted to return. Yes, there were deaths and changes. Many stereotypical characters that will be recognized by anyone who reads post-apocalyptic fiction -- the good guys and the bad guys.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. I think it's one that all ages will devour -- it would make a great movie! Lots of good points for discussion in a book club and I'm definitely going to recommend it to young adult readers as well. I'd love to have a paper format to get one of the teens to review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books for the ARC e-book to review.
Abduction and Apocalypse - a story of "survival, resilience, and hope."
First off, this novel has little to no similarity to either ROOM or to THE LOVELY BONES. To compare them is to do all of the very different stories an injustice. Start with an open mind.
Blythe is just 16 years old when she is kidnapped and taken down below ground into an abandoned missile silo in Kansas by a disaster survivalist who has created an impenetrable bunker deep in the bowels of the earth. Dobbs Hordin met Blythe when he was working in the Eudora high school library and abducts her while she is walking home from a town celebration. He's completely convinced that armegedon is imminent and has made complex and complicated plans for survival and for propagating the species afterwards. The first part of the book deals with Blythe's life while imprisoned in the silo. Every day and each event that Blythe endures in the dark and stale compartments below the Kansas plain is one of self-sacrifice and infused with desperation for freedom and return to the family and life she knew before. Dobbs makes frequent missions outside of their compound and returns with supplies and news -- but he is not to be trusted so Blythe has no way to know what is really going on in the world above. Blythe struggles as she is first required to be Dobbs's mate and then to raise a child. She tries to stay alive and mentally intact through her memories but all she can think of is getting OUT.
That day of emancipation comes after 17 years in captivity and what she finds when she and Adam open the doors of the silo is not at all what she had prayed for, hoped for, or imagined it would be. The last parts of the book deal with Blythe and Adam as they come face to face with a changed world and try to reconcile all that happened and forge a new existence. To discover that to live might just take more than to survive the worst.
The book is set in current day but sometimes the character of Blythe didn't ring true when compared to teenagers I know -- she seemed much more old-fashioned -- which was sort of off putting. There are serious religious overtones at times in the writing, though the apocalypse isn't suggested to be a punishment, but definitely it is has heavy social commentary. Sometimes the internal dialog that Blythe has with herself seems a stream of consciousness blathering that occasionally went on too long and the reader indeed gets the message that this is not the world whose memories kept Blythe going and to which she wanted to return. Yes, there were deaths and changes. Many stereotypical characters that will be recognized by anyone who reads post-apocalyptic fiction -- the good guys and the bad guys.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. I think it's one that all ages will devour -- it would make a great movie! Lots of good points for discussion in a book club and I'm definitely going to recommend it to young adult readers as well. I'd love to have a paper format to get one of the teens to review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books for the ARC e-book to review.
I was given a copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley, in return for an honest review.
I have to pause and compose my thoughts before writing my review of "Above". My feelings while reading it spanned an entire spectrum of emotions. I was drawn in to the story immediately. The entire book is told in the first person, through Blythe's eyes. As one would imagine, it seems absolutely horrible, being kidnapped from a small town as a teenager. And things only go down hill from there.
During the section entitled 'Below', where Blythe is kept in an abandoned Silo, we are shown a smart and scared little girl. She tries everything that she can think of to escape. Over the years her strategy changes and she is continuously faced with new challenges, but she doesn't give up hope that she will eventually find a way out. And neither does the reader. I was surprised to find that Blythe never got on my nerves as some characters tend to do in these situations. However, there were points at the middle and end of this section, that I wanted to put the book down and just not continue it. But I kept going because it is very hard for me to not finish a book, and also, I had promised to give a review.
I kept reading, and when we finally reached the end of 'below' I was glad that I had!
However, it wasn't very far into the 'Above' section when I realized that this was not the type of book that I had signed up for. I was interested in reading about the kidnapping, not what happened after. But I trudged along, even more horrified by what I was reading about 'Above' than what had happened 'Below'. My feelings for this book just kept withering away. It seemed beyond redemption.
As I said at the beginning of this review, my feelings were all over the place. By the end, somehow, this book had wormed its way back into my good graces. I'm not sure when or how this exactly happened, but by the time it was done, I am happy to report that I actually liked it. The last 2 chapters really pulled it all together. I can't make myself give it 4 stars because of all the heartache it gave me, but 3 doesn't seem to do it justice. 3.5 would be perfect, and I recommend it to those who are on the fence about reading it.
I have to pause and compose my thoughts before writing my review of "Above". My feelings while reading it spanned an entire spectrum of emotions. I was drawn in to the story immediately. The entire book is told in the first person, through Blythe's eyes. As one would imagine, it seems absolutely horrible, being kidnapped from a small town as a teenager. And things only go down hill from there.
During the section entitled 'Below', where Blythe is kept in an abandoned Silo, we are shown a smart and scared little girl. She tries everything that she can think of to escape. Over the years her strategy changes and she is continuously faced with new challenges, but she doesn't give up hope that she will eventually find a way out. And neither does the reader. I was surprised to find that Blythe never got on my nerves as some characters tend to do in these situations. However, there were points at the middle and end of this section, that I wanted to put the book down and just not continue it. But I kept going because it is very hard for me to not finish a book, and also, I had promised to give a review.
I kept reading, and when we finally reached the end of 'below' I was glad that I had!
However, it wasn't very far into the 'Above' section when I realized that this was not the type of book that I had signed up for. I was interested in reading about the kidnapping, not what happened after. But I trudged along, even more horrified by what I was reading about 'Above' than what had happened 'Below'. My feelings for this book just kept withering away. It seemed beyond redemption.
As I said at the beginning of this review, my feelings were all over the place. By the end, somehow, this book had wormed its way back into my good graces. I'm not sure when or how this exactly happened, but by the time it was done, I am happy to report that I actually liked it. The last 2 chapters really pulled it all together. I can't make myself give it 4 stars because of all the heartache it gave me, but 3 doesn't seem to do it justice. 3.5 would be perfect, and I recommend it to those who are on the fence about reading it.
Imaginative and thought-provoking. While others may have found it less so, I enjoyed it for being so different. One line stood out for me in this book: "Missing can make a day take forever to end; remembering, though, can make it fly." If I had one suggestion to improve it, it would have been that the last part of the book which takes place above-ground I would have wished took up the whole of the last half the book instead of a smaller segment.
