A review by tklassy
What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

First read by this author. I enjoyed it. I found the ending too quick - but also found the book dragging at points. I felt I knew the sisters and even Philip as a child. But the ending - even the long chapter recounting what happened - didn't give me the gut punch I wanted. 

My feelings around this book are a little bit muted. To be honest, it didn’t really make me feel that much emotion. I’m contemplating if I will read anything else by Schwartz. I just feel that there was quite a lot structurally wrong with this novel like it was fine. But that was about it and the ending… it felt rushed, and without the emotional punch in the gut that I needed for the story to really wrap up and have an emotional impact. The fact that the brothers entire life after he was kidnapped is just laid out to you in less than 15 pages felt lazy? I was also left feeling frustrated that there wasn’t a conversation about race at any point throughout this book. I think this lack of the discussion really undermined some of the more emotive parts of the book.
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