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A review by mbenzz
Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell
4.0
I found this book to be very sad...not sad in a weepy way, but sad in a pity way. The life that was left for these kids to lead was so hard, it's no surprise the book ended the way it did.
Harley is a nineteen-year-old kid whose forced to take care of his three sisters (Amber-16, Misty-12, and Jody-5) after their mother kills their father and is sentenced to life in prison. Life is not easy for these kids who live in the backwoods of an old Pennsylvania coal-mining town. Harley's working two crappy jobs, trying to pay the bills and put food on the table, and dealing with a whole mess of problems at the same time.
Faced with a family of three sisters who don't seem to appreciate anything he does, one sister who keeps making incestuous advances towards him, another sister who seems to be encouraging her to do so, a married neighbor who starts having an affair with him, and in the end, a murder, it's no surprise that Harley starts to lose his mind.
I won't go into it anymore, but this was a hard book to put down. Just when you think you knew everything that was going on, another (sometimes disturbing) surprise is thrown at you. While I personally enjoyed 'Coal Run' (Ms. O' Dells second novel) a little more, this book was definitely not a disappointment. Some pretty heavy stuff, but a very good book.
Harley is a nineteen-year-old kid whose forced to take care of his three sisters (Amber-16, Misty-12, and Jody-5) after their mother kills their father and is sentenced to life in prison. Life is not easy for these kids who live in the backwoods of an old Pennsylvania coal-mining town. Harley's working two crappy jobs, trying to pay the bills and put food on the table, and dealing with a whole mess of problems at the same time.
Faced with a family of three sisters who don't seem to appreciate anything he does, one sister who keeps making incestuous advances towards him, another sister who seems to be encouraging her to do so, a married neighbor who starts having an affair with him, and in the end, a murder, it's no surprise that Harley starts to lose his mind.
I won't go into it anymore, but this was a hard book to put down. Just when you think you knew everything that was going on, another (sometimes disturbing) surprise is thrown at you. While I personally enjoyed 'Coal Run' (Ms. O' Dells second novel) a little more, this book was definitely not a disappointment. Some pretty heavy stuff, but a very good book.