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

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

4.0

 
What Could Be Saved is the story of the Preston family. In 1972 the American family - mum, dad and three kids - were living in Thailand when eight year old Philip disappeared. Despite intensive efforts he was never found and the family returned to America and tried to get on with the rest of their lives. Forty years later Laura receives an email claiming to be from her missing brother. Throwing caution to the wind she heads straight to Thailand. Against this background a complicated family story unfolds - one full of flawed characters, secrets , misunderstandings and regrets.

The mystery part of this novel was the less successful element for me. The main details of Philip’s fate were pretty much exactly as I expected. Thankfully the mystery wasn’t the main focus. I thought the characterisation was great -all the main characters were fully rounded with individual stories of their own. I also thought the author did a great job of shining a light on the unflattering reality of American ex-pat life in Thailand at the time, not to mention American foreign policy as well. The way Thai staff were treated was often appalling and cringeworthy. The insular and slightly claustrophobic nature of the expat community was well captured. I liked the structure of the story which featured a dual timeline narrative and think the author did a great job of drawing all the individual threads together. We get five main narrative perspectives and it is only when all are combined that the full picture of the Preston’s life and the factors that contributed to Philip’s disappearance emerges.

A satisfying well-told story that I flew through. 
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