canadian_booknerd's review against another edition
5.0
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and though I was thrilled to win any book I didn't realize how lucky I really was. This book tells the story of four women and the way they are linked together through Allison. Allison is an 18 year old girl who just got out of jail and is trying to start her life over without the family who now pretend she doesn't exist. She went to jail for drowning her baby when she was just 15 years old but that is only the beginning of this story.
It was so well written I almost couldn't put it down. A really haunting story and yet it also contains something beautiful about the love of different kinds of mothers.
It was so well written I almost couldn't put it down. A really haunting story and yet it also contains something beautiful about the love of different kinds of mothers.
brooke_review's review against another edition
3.0
This novel tried, perhaps a little too hard, but didn't quite hit its mark. I felt like I have heard this story before, and the author didn't do much to renew it for me. In addition, the writing was a little weak - not much depth and substance ... with this story line, I would prefer something a bit more psychological. Lastly, the ending was quite incredulous and didn't flow with the rest of the novel.
nburkk's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
julia0000's review against another edition
4.0
It's a little hard to explain this book but the author has a way of pulling you in and not letting you go. The storyline isn't anything remarkably new and you can somewhat see where it's heading but the way it's written kept me wanting more. This is the first book in a long time I've sat down for a minute to read and then realized hours have passed. I was so caught up I finished it in less than 24 hours... cheating at work during lunch but it was worth it. Emotional for sure but well worth the read!
rlculp399's review against another edition
1.0
I thought the plot was so scattered at the beginning that it was a bit hard to follow and then surprise surprise it all comes together at the end. Seemed predictable for most of the books with one plot twist. Meh.
debi_g's review against another edition
4.0
There are secrets aplenty in this book, and half way through the plot takes a turn that I didn't expect (and I thought it seemed predictable at first).
In the end, it's tough to know where my sympathies rest.
At times the writing was perfunctory or clunky and the narration intrusive.
All in all, an enjoyable mass of conflicts that kept me interested.
In the end, it's tough to know where my sympathies rest.
At times the writing was perfunctory or clunky and the narration intrusive.
All in all, an enjoyable mass of conflicts that kept me interested.
gullicksen31's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
readhikerepeat's review against another edition
5.0
WOW. I'm finishing this book at 4 am because I couldn't put it down, which is saying something. I don't want to give anything away so I will just say "wow, read this book!". I thought "The Weight of Silence" was good bit this one blows it out of the water.
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
Allison Glenn was perfect—a star athlete and scholastic overachiever—before she ended up in prison at the age of seventeen. The book opens with her early release to a halfway house. Her parents and younger sister, Brynn, don’t want anything to do with her after her as-yet-unnamed-but-certain-to-be-super-bad crime.
From this grim starting point the story unfolds, gradually revealing layers of guilt, regret, blame, and lots and lots of juicy drama between Allison and her family.
Then Allison is hired to work at a local bookstore, for a woman named Claire who has an adopted son, Joshua. He was abandoned outside a local fire station, and Claire has never known who Joshua’s parents were. Further clouding matters is Charm, a girl about Allison’s age, who has kept a secret from Claire for years, despite their friendship that developed in the self-help section of Claire’s store. Somehow, they’re all connected, and when it all comes together it’s a total crapstorm of betrayal and too-little-too-late honesty.
I have to admit, I found this book so absorbing I prolonged naptime at our house by half an hour so I could finish it. It was a real snarfer—one of those books that keeps you so enthralled, you end up snarfing it up in hundred-page chunks, shirking all your responsibilities and staying up past a respectable bedtime.
While I saw the “twists” coming and could predict most of the shocking moments, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all. I think, since [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276], we’ve set the bar for shock value way too high. There’s more to good writing than just the ability to surprise readers. (Don’t even get me started on the ending of [b:My Sister's Keeper|10917|My Sister's Keeper|Jodi Picoult|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369504683s/10917.jpg|1639903].) If there weren’t, I could pen a bestseller today: it would be 400 pages of historical drama set in 1896 Russia, and on page 401 a robot monkey that has overtaken its human creators would descend from the sky in a vortex of green flames and throw poop at the endearingly guileless orphaned teenage protagonist while Van Halen’s “Jump” is played in the background by a second robot monkey on a keytar. Nobody would see it coming, right? The makings of a classic. Now to get it written before Jodi Picoult can steal my idea.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
From this grim starting point the story unfolds, gradually revealing layers of guilt, regret, blame, and lots and lots of juicy drama between Allison and her family.
Then Allison is hired to work at a local bookstore, for a woman named Claire who has an adopted son, Joshua. He was abandoned outside a local fire station, and Claire has never known who Joshua’s parents were. Further clouding matters is Charm, a girl about Allison’s age, who has kept a secret from Claire for years, despite their friendship that developed in the self-help section of Claire’s store. Somehow, they’re all connected, and when it all comes together it’s a total crapstorm of betrayal and too-little-too-late honesty.
I have to admit, I found this book so absorbing I prolonged naptime at our house by half an hour so I could finish it. It was a real snarfer—one of those books that keeps you so enthralled, you end up snarfing it up in hundred-page chunks, shirking all your responsibilities and staying up past a respectable bedtime.
While I saw the “twists” coming and could predict most of the shocking moments, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all. I think, since [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276], we’ve set the bar for shock value way too high. There’s more to good writing than just the ability to surprise readers. (Don’t even get me started on the ending of [b:My Sister's Keeper|10917|My Sister's Keeper|Jodi Picoult|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369504683s/10917.jpg|1639903].) If there weren’t, I could pen a bestseller today: it would be 400 pages of historical drama set in 1896 Russia, and on page 401 a robot monkey that has overtaken its human creators would descend from the sky in a vortex of green flames and throw poop at the endearingly guileless orphaned teenage protagonist while Van Halen’s “Jump” is played in the background by a second robot monkey on a keytar. Nobody would see it coming, right? The makings of a classic. Now to get it written before Jodi Picoult can steal my idea.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
carolbsmith's review against another edition
2.0
What I didn't like was that the author kept repeating parts of the storyline...like she was afraid I didn't get it the first time through.
I read it to the end, so that's a plus.
I read it to the end, so that's a plus.