Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Saving Noah

I listened to this on audiobook while traveling, it’s about six and a half hours so if you have a ways to go, you can just about finish the book in your travel day. This combination definitely helped plow through slower parts - I was trapped at the airport or in a plane with nothing better to do but listen, and knew the book was only so long so it kept me listening.

About 75% through this book, I was grasping for something to keep me reading (listening?) but I am really glad that I did because I think the book has been really thought provoking.

I’m a little disappointed in some of the reviews tbh, not only here but online elsewhere, and I feel like people are largely missing the point. Like all of them. Which gets in the way of valid criticism.

The book is written from Adrianne’s view. The disgusting comments she makes early on about Noah “just touching” the girls, how she continues to repeat that it is a non violent crime that won’t happen again, or when she is downplaying the girls’ experience and emphasizing Noah’s achievements, is NOT Lucinda Berry’s personal opinion on pedophiles. She is demonstrating the desperation of a mother trying to rationalize (you can’t) the child sexual assault. Her brain is trying to find someway to believe that the baby she held after she grew it cell, pushed him out of her, and raised him every day as a stay at home mom, is sexually assaulting children. It’s hard to read (more plug for the audiobook), but not an impossible reaction. It’s a grim but entertaining thought experiment (and more horrifying, actually happening throughout society).

AND she has a minor at home (I think Katie is seven, if I picked up on that right and Noah SA’d two six year olds) AND her husband has completely shut down and abandoned their first-born and partner who is obviously being tortured by the whole experience.

I personally did not see the plot twist that Lucas was narrating the earlier chapters coming and I thought this was a delightful additional piece to chew on. I love stories that you will read/watch (listen?) differently after knowing what happens and think about the significance of earlier moments in retrospect. I did see the plot twist of Adrianne helping Noah commit suicide but I thought it was a pretty somber but touching concept.

I totally subscribe to the theory (unfortunately) that Lucas might’ve been assaulting Katie throughout the novel in hindsight. It’s not certain but there are things that would need to be investigated IRL:
- his original offense was a familial crime
- Katie stopped wetting the bed at 4 yrs, started wetting the bed again when Noah and Adrianne moved out, and stopped when Adrianne moved back in
- Katie’s insistence on staying with Noah and Adrianne one night and her horrible diatribe about how she “doesn’t care if Noah touches her privates” and nonchalantness of such for her age

I don’t think Lucas demanded Katie stay with him away from Noah with the intention of assaulting her, but he talks about backsliding in Him (Now) and doesn’t specify how, so it’s possible he lost restraint later on. I think he truly was initially horrified that this type of situation was arising in their lives again and abandoned Noah in attempt for self-preservation.

I love that Adrianne is a tortured, unreliable narrator. Of course what she is saying is insane. She talks through the novel saying she hasn’t slept more than an hour or two a night for months-years, and the magnitude of what has gone on has broken her brain. Mercy-killing Noah is NOT the solution in any way and it’s wild that she got to that point. However, I can totally see how she would be driven to give up and agree with Noah’s hopeless 18-year old logic that this is never going to be a life that is purposeful or worth leading and should end his suffering now.

It is not written great, it’s written pretty well. Not a happy one, but I’ll be chewing on the thoughts of what I would do in Adrianne’s shoes for a couple of days for sure. She was the only one even remotely left in that boy’s corner from early on in the book (other than Katie, who is just as much a victim of everything by the end of the book.)

Content Warnings

mecmccann's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’m so torn about how I feel about this book. I’m going to write out all my rambling thoughts, please forgive the messiness that will be this review.

Saving Noah is about a young boy who molested two five year old girls at swim practice which he coached. He was arrested and sent to a juvenile correction facility where he would receive treatment to lower the chances that he would reoffend. We follow his relationship with his mother who loves him endlessly.

The mom comes across as if she thinks he’s a victim. He is indeed a perpetrator, but he is a victim of the justice system and social scrutiny, which I won’t comment on the morality of. I didn’t necessarily appreciate this aspect of the mom’s response to the situation. About 40% into the book, it does become more self aware, the dad calls her out on this and she addresses it. So I guess I can forgive that.

After it became aware of what it was doing, it was just so sad.

The portrayal of depression and the horrifying suicide attempts were a lot. It was haunting being in the head of someone witnessing such darkness in their child. I did cry in the last chapter from the mom’s perspective.

I called the twist right at the beginning. I knew the dad was a pedophile the whole time. I thought maybe he was the other POV when they talked about shock therapy, just because that’s supper outdated, but I wasn’t certain. And I’m willing to bet that, even though he didn’t admit it, he was molesting his daughter too, she showed signs of sexual abuse like wetting the bed.

Overall this book did elicit an emotional response, so I think it did its job.

Content Warnings

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

Hey, quick question. What the fuck was this??

The mom was so fucking insufferable, oh my god. It’s “yes my son did something terrible but can you PLEASE get over it?” every other sentence. I feel like this book tried very hard to garner support and sympathy for pedophiles, even making light of the molestation and that does not sit right with me. Perhaps I’m a bit of an extremist but I do think they should all d*e 🤭 btw, I didn’t appreciate the twist. The dad being a secret pedophile when he could have just been normal and against pedophilia and utterly disgusted with his child? Lame and he should have k*lled himself too.

Content Warnings

strawberryninja's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book isn’t for everyone due to subject matter. Being a behavioral health professional I enjoyed it. I looked at this at a different perspective than usual.

Content Warnings