Helpful Score: 9
This was not, admittedly, my kind of book. I read about half of it, which was compelling enough (how can you NOT wonder what happens to a child who disappears?) and moderately well written. But then I got tired of the plot and the characters, none of whom I really liked. The ending was downright ridiculous.
Helpful Score: 9
Alrite, I was given this book to read. I would recommend this book if you like a lot of details, sometimes I felt lost in the book due to all the descriptions. I mean really how many times do you need to describe a sunset???
however the story line is great the ending leaves you with so many questions.
however the story line is great the ending leaves you with so many questions.
Helpful Score: 6
Year of Fog had some interesting facts about memory, missing children and surfing. However, can't say I enjoyed it all that much. It seemed to bogg down in the middle but did picked up at the end. Some books would be better a little shorter and this was one of them.
Helpful Score: 6
ABsolutely hated this book. The author went on and on...page after page...chapter after chapter about the main character looking for this child. It was also downright unbelievable. I think the book was edited by an summer, high school intern at the publishing house. It was horrible.
Helpful Score: 4
Pretty suspensful. I thought the author jumps around too much but, other than that, it was a good read. A great ending!!
Helpful Score: 3
I couldn't put this book down. I literally read it in two days...and I have two small children, so it's not like I have a ton of free time on my hands.
The narrator "loses" her fiance's 6-year-old daughter on a foggy San Francisco beach. This book spans the year following that fateful day, as the police become more convinced that the little girl must have drowned, and the narrator becomes obsessively convinced that she was kidnapped. Even as her relationship falls apart (like you couldn't see that one coming), she becomes more committed to finding the little girl than she is to building a life with the girl's father.
Richmond is an excellent writer, who wraps the themes of loss, love, and memory into a fascinating story, although the plot does move rather slowly at times...just like that year does for those involved. Her details are vivid enough that after reading a scene in which the narrator enjoys some late-night french toast, I had to put the book down long enough to make myself some.
The narrator "loses" her fiance's 6-year-old daughter on a foggy San Francisco beach. This book spans the year following that fateful day, as the police become more convinced that the little girl must have drowned, and the narrator becomes obsessively convinced that she was kidnapped. Even as her relationship falls apart (like you couldn't see that one coming), she becomes more committed to finding the little girl than she is to building a life with the girl's father.
Richmond is an excellent writer, who wraps the themes of loss, love, and memory into a fascinating story, although the plot does move rather slowly at times...just like that year does for those involved. Her details are vivid enough that after reading a scene in which the narrator enjoys some late-night french toast, I had to put the book down long enough to make myself some.
Helpful Score: 3
Very good story. The author does a good job of reeling you in to the character's feelings. I wanted to jump right in the book and help these people. I couldn't wait to find out what happened.
Helpful Score: 3
Good book. Definately a page turner. Was a little disappointed by the end.
Helpful Score: 3
This book sucked me in pretty quickly, and I found it hard to put down. Some chapters were short and not really part of the story, so I skipped many of those. I think they were intended to show the angst of the main character, but that had already been made clear in my opinion.
All in all, this was a very good book and definitely worth reading.
All in all, this was a very good book and definitely worth reading.
Helpful Score: 2
I got into this book quickly, but lost interest in the middle. I skimmed it because I did want to know how it turned out. Not a bad book but not great either.
Helpful Score: 2
Good read, although a lot of non-relevent stuff and a bit perdictable. But a good read about how life can change in an instant and hope
Helpful Score: 2
Loved it! Finished in record time because I couldn't put it down! The writing style was really unique - there were many psychological references that were really interesting (and I'm not typically interested in that type of thing) and really added to the context of the story. It ended slightly abruptly with some loose ends. I can totally imagine another story with the main character that could stand completely alone and apart from the plot of this story. Definitely recommend!
Helpful Score: 2
I found this book to be a very good mystery, I couldn't put it down.
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed this book. The story was good, the characters were likable, and it kept my interest. I really liked the author's style, kind of like Jodi Picoult. The plot is unpredictable all the way to the end. It's a good read.
Helpful Score: 2
This book was good when it started out but seemed to drag out and the depression of the whole situation was disheartening, but needless to say I stuck with the book reading and it just didn't get any better toward the middle on into the end when the miraculous takes place which is just way out unbelievable...I was disappointed with this book and would not recommend it to others because of the lack of details and the unrealistic plot...
Helpful Score: 2
What a journey! Watching a woman search for the truth is profound. To see her give up her ordinary life to do what she knows is right. Courgageous read!
Helpful Score: 2
I just loved this book. I couldnt put it down. It is similar to Deep End of the Ocean.
Helpful Score: 2
I was so excited to finally get to read this book but very disappointed once I started. I had to finish it to find out what had happened to the missing child. Poorly written and rambly in parts. I hated it!!! I would never recommend this book to anyone!
This is an excellent book - very well written and will keep you on the edge of your seat. I couldn't stop reading it once I started. As you read it you realize the importance in all the details you need to recall when you've lost a loved one. Then you realize that the main character is suddenly seeing every single detail in life, now that she realizes how important details can be. Fascinating and engrossing story... I want to read more from this author!
Helpful Score: 2
WOW! Michelle Richmond is now one of my favorite writers simply because of this book. Here's what the book is about from the back cover: A child's disappearance is at the heart of the riveting read that follows photographer, fiancee and soon-to-be stepmother Abby Mason. Once the drama starts, prepare to race to the last page.
I couldn't put this book down. If you like Jaquelyn Mitchard or Jodi Picoult, you will like this book.
I couldn't put this book down. If you like Jaquelyn Mitchard or Jodi Picoult, you will like this book.
Helpful Score: 2
Wow I loved this book! It was great and very enjoyable! I would recommend it to those who like fiction with suspense mixed in there.
Helpful Score: 2
"The Year of Fog" tells the story of Abby Mason, a San Francisco photographer who "loses" her fiance's six-year old daughter Emma while taking her for a walk on San Francisco's foggy Ocean Beach. Abby looks away from Emma for a moment to snap a photo, and when she looks back, the girl has disappeared. Convinced that Emma has not drowned in the ocean (the girl is terrified of the water), Abby and Emma's father Jake conduct a search to find the missing girl. As the weeks drag into months, it becomes harder and harder to keep motivated to continue the search. A very touching story.
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed this book and found myself engrossed in it over the course of a weekend. What struck me most was how deeply I felt the narrator's feelings. A fast read that will keep you thinking about the characters for some time.
Helpful Score: 2
Heavy and sad. Written about a missing child, Emma. I thought that the conclusion regarding Emma was a little unrealistic, but everything else was so real and heartbreaking. Some parts of the book in the middle were a little long and I found myself skimming the pages, but I still could not quit reading.
Helpful Score: 2
Good reading - didn't want to put it down!
Helpful Score: 1
great book, recommended for people who like Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard. Beautiful descriptions of photography and developing pictures comparing parts of that process to the main character's feelings about losing her fiancee's daughter. This is mostly a story about the main character and a little girl she fell in love with and a side story about her and her fiance, the little girl's father.
Helpful Score: 1
On the whole the book was good.. but the ending is what made it that way. Sadly you had to get through the other 200 pages which were incredibly sad and rather heart wrenching! I have to admit, this is one of the ONLY books I have ever "skimmed" get to a better part. I wouldn't recommend this book if you have small children; hits too close to home.
Helpful Score: 1
An extremely well written book. The ending was little hard to believe, yet when I thought about it, I realized a woman's intuition is very powerful. The main character follows her intuition at all cost to its logical conclusion. A reminder that many of us should do the same.
Helpful Score: 1
I really liked it, yes it was repetitive but finding out the outcome was enough to keep me reading. Wish the ending was different though...felt bad for the main character.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved the beginning of this book but found it to be depressing and tedious at times. I stuck with it however and am glad I did. Overall, it was worth the read. This is heavy subject matter and not a book to read if you are in need of humor.
Helpful Score: 1
Very good book. Very sad that a child could go missing when you look away for a second. I liked this book very much, but some of the stuff about memory was a little much and I skipped those parts. I really felt bad for Abby, the fiance. What a guilt trip she had on her. Definitely worth reading. I think I might check out Michelle Richmond's new book.
Helpful Score: 1
This was an easy read that kept me guessing. I enjoyed the way the character developed.
Helpful Score: 1
A young girl goes missing on a California beach. What has happened to Emma? Did she drown or was she kidnapped? Will she ever be found? Could you forgive the person who was suppose to be watching her? These questions are at the heart of The Year of Fog. When a child is missing, do you ever stop looking and, if so, when? Jake, Emma's father, follows the statistics and holds a memorial service for his daughter. His fiance Abby, a photographer and the last one to see Emma, keeps searching her mind and the beach for Emma. And how can Jake and Abby go on as a couple with Emma's disappearance hanging over them? I won't spoil the ending other than to say it was satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. There is a "missing last chapter" available for download that is worthwhile. A good--not fantastic--read.
Helpful Score: 1
Really good. With all the flashbacks, I thought I would get confused, but the story moves with great speed and is smooth read. Loved it! loved it! loved it!
Helpful Score: 1
I had a hard time getting into this book and finally gave up.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this book. It bounced around alot, but to me it made it more realistic. However the ending is a fictional as an ending can get, but still had a twist to it. Overall a good book, I read it in one day, so once you get going it is hard to stop.
Loved this book. It is about a woman who blames herself when her fiancee's young daughter goes missing while they are walking together. It deals with her feeling, the changes in her relationship with the girl's father, and her search for the girl. It has interesting information about memory and how it works. It's the first book in a long time that I seriously considered reading again only a couple of months later.
I thought it was one of the worst book I've ever read. My book club agreed...we all hated it.
Excellent story! I couldn't put it down!
This is a gripping book!! She loses the young daughter of her fiance on the beach and tries and tries to recreate what exactly happened, locate any people she saw there, even goes abroad to find someone! How can this tragedy happen so quickly? This story will have you running through it, reading to see if and how she finds the daughter and where. A good tale of intrigue and sadness.
Wow. While I wouldn't compare the writing style of Michelle Richmond to Jodi Picoult, this was a 'heavy' book. I felt such pain for the main character, but there were times I thought the book meandered in ways that didn't improve it's quality.
it started it off alittle slow , but wow it was really good
I liked this book, while it was slow and repetitive at times it helped you understand what she was going through. The way it was written really helped me relate to the main character. I thought it was a thought provoking story.
Good book but not great. The explanation of how the memory process works was too much detail ..didn't hold my interest. Overall the story was good but it seems to have a repetition of thoughts that made the book feel too long.
The Year of Fog is a very good, very well-written book. It is long and, at times, seems a little too long. What's wonderful about that is that it's intentional. The protagonist, Abby, is searching for a little girl who has disappeared. Desperate to find her and refusing to give up, Abby spends every minute worrying about the little girl and trying to figure out how to locate her, where she could be. Meanwhile, Abby is trying to make a living and encourage herself to get on with her life as the days pass slowly, intolerably. During the times when the story seems slow or the book kind of plods along, the reader becomes aware of how awful this time must be for Abby. Each day that passes, that the little girl isn't found is another day without her. It'sd excruciating, painful. As quickly as the days pass, they also seem interminable.
This is a great book about a terrible situation that occurrs more often then any of us want to know.
This is a great book about a terrible situation that occurrs more often then any of us want to know.
There was only one thing I did not like about this book. It was so engrossing that I stayed up way past bedtime to see how it ended.
great book very inspiring never give up
Great, quick read! I thought it was well written and fairly suspenseful. Although, being a mom it had me a little freaked out at some points but overall a really good book! I would recommend it to anyone who likes suspense.
Ok book...i thought it was dragged out a little too much
Another writer's writer kind of book. Very accomplished and in the first person. I was captivated by the story from the very beginning to the very end and shared the pain of the antagonist. I wished it ended better for her, but actually was able to see it ahead of time. It was her growth not his in the end! All's well that end's well after all and a happy endin, truly. We all only get to experience and grow after all.
very good
I enjoyed it although I thought it was too drawn out in the middle.
The sense of place in this book is incredibly intense. Anyone who has experienced San Francisco fog will recognize it, and I think anyone who has not will begin to understand it. The story is immediately compelling, and the descriptions of the characters and their individual journeys are moving. The premise - the loss of a child in a random, sudden event - is so chilling, that there were times I wanted to stop reading. But I wanted to follow the characters and find out what happened in the end. It was both what I expected and a surprise, so hang in there, and just enjoy the beautiful words.
I thought it was drawn out in the middle as well, but in the end it was a page turner. Overall a good book.
I felt the book was uninteresting and depressing.
One look away and the little girl is gone. Disturbing, intriguing, and hard to put down.
Absolutely loved this book. Couldn't put it down. I just wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen. Put this on your list of books to read.
Heartbreaking story that I didn't want to put down.
Was a chore to finish. Too much bla bla bla... Could have been a lot shorter. Don't feel bad if you skip over stuff to get to the end, you're not missing anything. I also felt the ending sucked...
Un-put-down-able.....makes you want to go hug your child!
I could not put this book down. It really kept me engrossed. A definite must-read!
The beginning starts great, the middle just drags on and on and the end just came to an abrupt stop. All and all, it was ok.
I really enjoyed this strangely suspenseful book. Well, at times it moved very slowly - and it was rather unbelievable, but I would read another by this author. Also, I wouldn't highly recommend this book, although it was oddly suspenseful. I wish it had a better ending... a little more concrete.
I enjoyed this book. It is an easy read with a surprising ending. A book that you can take with you and read a few pages at a time without getting confused!! Enjoyable, light reading
I loved this book. It caught my interest from the very first page and I could hardly put it down before I finished it. I am in a book club and The Year of Fog was recommended by a member. A few of the ladies had to cheat and peek at the ending to see how it turned out before they could go on reading! A few ladies didn't like it, but the majority loved it as I did. I sent for Michelle Richmond's other book and look forward to that as well.
I really liked No One You Know, so I jumped at the chance to read this one. I thought the plot was interesting, and though I didn't love any of the characters, I did enjoy them for the simple fact they weren't cookie cutter people you could transplant to any story. By halfway through, though, I'd had more than enough of long passages on memory or photograpy not because I was bored but because it felt like a textbook or a lecture--very dry. I think this book would have been better as a short story. Or as a much shorter novel. She could have canned all the exposition on memory and stuck to the story, and I think it would have been great. This hasn't turned me off to the author, and I'll read her other books.
Great book... grabs you immediately from the very first to the last page.
I usually don't read fiction, but was intrigued by this book for two reasons; Its played out in San Francisco ( my home town) and it deals with the stepmother issue of loving someone else's child. The book began slowly and I was ready to close it and forget it. But it picks up the pace and rolls to the end in a quick suspenseful style. If you like lush descriptive writing, lengthy prose and daydreamy narratives, you will like this book. The ending really hit me hard. Bottom line: it deals with Abby's redemption and moving on with her life.
I loved this book. Sad, but engrossing at the same time.
Wow - what a read - hard to put down - the ending shocked me for days
I really enjoyed this book. The little girl who goes missing is the daughter of this lady's boyfriend. So, throughout the book there is a lot of tension to their relationship as well as the tension included in the search for the little girl. About 2/3 of the way through I started to get a little bored and it seemed to me that the book was too long, but I figured I was that far along, I wasn't going to quit then and I continued. And I'm so glad I did. That's all I will say about that. The book was an easy read....finished it in just a couple of days or so. Go ahead and read it, you'll like it.
I got tired of waiting for this, so bought it. It wasn't what I expected, but it was interesting.
The pace of this book is excellent and the characters are well portrayed. It demonstrates how fragile relationships are and, perhaps, how perserverance brings results. The main character was with her fiancee's child when she was kidnapped, so she is guilt-ridden and the father of the child is bereft. The outcome is probably the only way this tragedy could have played out, but I was hoping for the alternative.
This was a riveting and at times heartbreaking book. The author perfectly captured a family's turmoil and ultimate breakdown when their child becomes a victim of kidnappers. It is not a who-done-it or a procedural but a deeply moving look into the inner lives of people in crisis. It also captured the love/hate relationship the media has with sensational stories involving children. I highly recommend this book.
I couldn't stop reading this. Would she find the child or not? I had to know. Even after reading this I still can't imagine how parents survive after a child goes missing.
