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So Far Away

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 540 ratings · 160 reviews

Thirteen-year-old Natalie Gallagher is trying to escape: from her parents' ugly divorce, and from the vicious cyber-bullying of her former best friend. Adrift, confused, she is a girl trying to find her way in a world that seems to either neglect or despise her. Her salvation arrives in an unlikely form: Bridget O'Connell, an Irish maid working for a wealthy Boston family....more

Hardcover, 322 pages

Published May 29th 2012 by Reagan Arthur Books (first published May 1st 2012)

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Nov 10, 2012 Rosie Gutmann rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mini-Summary: A lonely archivist, Kathleen Lynch, emotionally scarred by the loss of her own husband and daughter, befriends a teenage girl, Natalie Gallagher, who is struggling with the divorce of her parents and cyberbullying from girls at school. This unlikely pair comes together through mutual interest in a mysterious diary written in the 1920s by an Irish nanny, Bridget Callaghan, who has secret struggles of her own.

Some Thoughts (Spoiler-ish, fair warning):
I won this ARC in a First Reads g...more
Mini-Summary: A lonely archivist, Kathleen Lynch, emotionally scarred by the loss of her own husband and daughter, befriends a teenage girl, Natalie Gallagher, who is struggling with the divorce of her parents and cyberbullying from girls at school. This unlikely pair comes together through mutual interest in a mysterious diary written in the 1920s by an Irish nanny, Bridget Callaghan, who has secret struggles of her own.

Some Thoughts (Spoiler-ish, fair warning):
I won this ARC in a First Reads giveaway by GoodReads, and I thought, having won it, that it wasn’t going to be… well… good. I never actively read anything that isn’t a classic, popular, or mainstream. I read books that are pretty much guaranteed to be at least well-written. So, I thought I was going to have to fake some nice things to say about this one, and that it would be a total disappointment because I acquired it so freely and easily. Despite all of my doubts, I am happy to say that this novel is actually pretty good, even if it isn’t entirely for me.

The real potency of this novel comes from the Natalie Gallagher storyline. Moore very aptly captures the plight of the teenage girl. Natalie struggles with the suddenness of her parents’ divorce and all of the change it brings into her life. Her disappointment in her father’s new romance and mother’s crippling depression is palpable. She is surly and impatient with them. Natalie looks to her parents as sources of strength, and she is deeply angry at them for being fallible and coming up short in their responsibilities to her. Natalie desires someone solid and aware in her life, and she learns the hard lesson that all children must eventually face: parents are humans too, and the childhood memories we have of them being superhereos are figments of our imagination.

The cyberbullying thread of the story is incredibly true to life. Natalie gets bullied by her ex-best friend and another girl, jealous of the attention Natalie receives from one of the boys in their grade. Moore expertly depicts the cruelty and calculating nature of insecure teenage girls through the constant bombardment of texts, voicemails, pictures, and website posts that Natalie suffers through. Natalie feels betrayed, helpless, and lost. She loses all self-confidence and becomes very angry at the world. This book practically screams at the reader, sending a strong message about the harsh realities of cyberbullying.

There are some flaws within this book, however. For one thing, Moore does a poor job with Bridget’s voice. I just could not hear the Irish immigrant nanny. I could not hear the Roaring Twenties. Sure, the characters had bobbed hair and Bridget called the lady of the house “ma’am” every now and then, but that’s where any believability stops. I think maybe if Bridget didn’t use speech patterns that are so obviously present day, or if she had an Irish lilt to her voice, I might have been able to buy her character. I commend Moore for trying, and it’s an interesting concept to tie the characters together through these dated diary entries, but Moore should stick to what she is good at, and it isn’t historical fiction.

The character of Kathleen Lynch is another really off-putting component of this book for me. I simply could not stand her. She is a sniveling, pathetic wimp of a character. The constant repetition within her inner monologue of “Girls in trouble. Girls needing help. Trouble everywhere! We need to help ALL TEh GIRLZ!” is so incredibly annoying. There were some points in time where I wanted to throw the book at the wall. Kathleen is so self-absorbed for most of the book that she couldn’t see that her dog is dying and that her friends needed her. Her fixation on her lost daughter, Susannah, drove me crazy. I do concede that that may have been the point; Kathleen was drowning in her own losses. However, I think I would have still been able to see Kathleen’s redemption in the end without all the psychotic echoing of “Girls in trouble!”and the endless pity-parties she quite literally threw for herself (so many pointless pages of her hanging out in her apartment alone, thinking of the lost Susannah, who cares?!).

But I digress. Overall, this book passed the time pleasantly. There are some issues that I couldn’t ignore while reading it, but it packs a strong punch about adolescent bullying. I suppose I could recommend this book to teen girls (though I’m not sure they will have the patience for the middle-aged bouts of regret and loneliness Kathleen goes through), but I think I would really recommend this book to mothers of teen daughters. It’s mostly a cautionary tale with a little bit of secret love affair and gratuitous gay best friend thrown into the mix.

See an extended review at my literary blog here: http://rkgutmann.blogspot.com/2012/05... (less)

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Jul 07, 2012 Lyndz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, first-reads

The main and most central theme of this book is bullying and its ramifications. Anyone who is considering reading this should know this right up front.
For some reason or another, I thought this book was going to be about this neato mysterious old diary, and watching the characters as they discover the history and story behind the diary. While this did happen, to some extent, it was definitely more of a side note. The main theme is bullying.

Why do I say bullying is the central theme?

The lady who...more

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May 31, 2012 Alex rated it 1 of 5 stars

Hm. So I won an advanced readers copy of this book for the purposes of reviewing, I imagine.
I got about a page in and already knew-- the characters would be irritating. More on that another time. The two mains are dealing with harsh realities: one has a junkie daughter God-knows-where and the other has recently divorced parents-- dad's got a new girlfriend and mom doesn't even get dressed these days. The way the author approaches the mindsets of each just seems rather... shallow.
Also, the author...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Sapphire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mostly-fluff

I picked this book hastily from my local library's "staff picks" section, and am rather glad I did. The story drew me in instantly and I finished the book in a day. There were times where the characters were rather annoying and parts where I just wanted to slap Kathleen across the face for being so... naive despite her age and life experience. There were other times when the relationship between Natalie and Kathleen seemed rather creepy, but others where it made perfect sense that Kathleen cared...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Pat rated it 4 of 5 stars

I could not put this book down. It really caught my attention from the beginning. It centers are three characters - Natalie, a freshman who's parents are separated. Her father is spending most of his time with his new girlfriend. Her mother is not accepting the separation and is going through the days with sleeping pills. Neither one of Natalie's parents are spending quality time with her to find out that Natalie is being bullied at school. Natalie finds a box in the basement with a hand-written...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Cara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fun-or-frivolity

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book tells the parallel tales of three women: Kathleen, a library archivist; Natalie, a teenager who is being cyberbullied; and Bridgette, an Irish immigrant working as a housekeeper and nanny in the 1920s. The connection is that Natalie finds Bridgette's diary and takes it to Kathleen's archives to try to learn more.

Of the three women, Bridgette was probably the most likable. Her diary telling of her story is a little long-winded and round-about, but I guess that's more realistic than if i...more This book tells the parallel tales of three women: Kathleen, a library archivist; Natalie, a teenager who is being cyberbullied; and Bridgette, an Irish immigrant working as a housekeeper and nanny in the 1920s. The connection is that Natalie finds Bridgette's diary and takes it to Kathleen's archives to try to learn more.

Of the three women, Bridgette was probably the most likable. Her diary telling of her story is a little long-winded and round-about, but I guess that's more realistic than if it was all written down in a perfectly concise way. I certainly ramble in my diary. I kept wanting her to get to the point, though.

As for the others, I sympathized with Natalie but found her a little tiresome. Sometimes I liked her, sometimes I didn't. Again, since she's a teenager, that's more realistic than if she was likable all the time, but far less pleasant.

I had mixed feelings about Kathleen. Her heart was certainly in the right place, but she was so overwrought all the time. She made me tired.

Honestly, the whole book made me tired in a lot of ways. It seemed like a lot of unnecessary drama was piled on, just to make it more dramatic. Really, does Kathleen's co-worker's partner have to be in Haiti during the big earthquake? Also, there was a lot of very heavy-handed foreshadowing. Ok, the dog has coughed about a hundred times, refused a favorite treat, and gotten out of breath from a short walk. One or two scenes of that would be enough. You don't have to keep harping on it. I'm just glad the dog didn't actually die during the book.

Meanwhile, Kathleen's incessant harping on girls in danger!!!!11!one!!! The world is such a dangerous place for girls these days! The sky is falling! Seriously, we get it. Just shut up already.

For me, the most poignant scene was when Natalie finally broke down and went to the guidance counselor for help. She held off for most of the book because she didn't want the mean girls to get even more angry with her for being a rat, but things reached a breaking point and she realized she needed help. So she went, told the woman the whole story... only to be dismissed and get no help at all. I remember the moment I realized nobody at the university I worked was going to lift a finger to help or protect me from an unstable student--how crushing that was. The scene portrays that moment for Natalie very well.

Overall, I would have liked to see more growth in the character instead of such a conveniently tidy ending. Adam (co-worker's partner) is alive after all, and so is the Haitian baby! Bridgette turns out to be Natalie's great-grandmother! (Duh, how else did her diary get in the family house?) The mean bully girl gets transferred to another school, where she'll probably make someone else's life a living hell, but who cares about that because it's off-stage! Kathleen gets inspired (albeit to take Natalie to Ireland, which is really a pretty nutty plan)! Yay for everyone! It just seemed a little simplistic. I would have liked to see Kathleen develop some interests of her own, but that never happens. Also, I would have liked to see a final scene with Christian, Natalie's crush. After some climactic angst involving him, he simply never reappears. Huh?

Despite all this, I was into the story enough that I kept reading more to see what would happen. Overall, I enjoyed the book.(less)

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Aug 29, 2012 Stacy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This story had such great potential, with 3 separate stories being woven together. One of those stories comes from a tall, skinny yet beautiful 13 year old girl whose mother is nearly non-existent, her father is busy finding someone else to love and her best friend has become one of her cyber bullies. Another part of the story is an older lady who has 'lost' her only child, and then the third comes from a very old book found in a basement. I was intrigued, because I love that concept of finding...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Laurie rated it 4 of 5 stars

The theme of ‘So Far Away’, spelled out frequently, is that teenaged girls are in danger. Always. Whether the danger is girls their own age, predatory bosses, or heroin, the threat is there.

The story has three main protagonists: Kathleen, a 50ish archivist who lost her own daughter many years ago; Natalie, a 13 year old whose parents have split and are ignoring her as she gets bullied at school and on line; and Bridget, a young woman who emigrated from Ireland in the 1920s to work as a maid. Na...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Angie Holtz rated it 5 of 5 stars

From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

I'm officially a fan of Meg Mitchell Moore. She weaves tales that put you on the emotional roller coaster with her vivid characters.

There are lots of people in this story, but only two main characters whose perspectives we get. As the synopsis states, Nat is a very sad character, getting bullied (not just cyber) while her parents are going through a divorce. Kathleen has been a widower for many years. Her young adult daughter has been missing for a few years, since she r...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Ting rated it 2 of 5 stars

When I finished I felt somewhat let down by this book. The story held such promise but I felt the ending was a bit shoddy. The subject of cyber-bullying is a disturbing one and a subject that needs more awareness but I felt that the author got lost and somehow does not convey how serious the situation had become or should be handled by parents and school authorities etc. The underlying thread of "girls in jeopardy" seems like a good one but I could not see that an immigrant girl of the 1920s pre...more

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May 20, 2012 Kelly Hager rated it 4 of 5 stars

So Far Away is the story of three women (well, technically, two women and a teenage girl). Kathleen works at the Archives and is missing her only child, Susannah, who ran away years ago. Natalie is dealing with cyberbullying (victim, not perpetrator) and is looking into her ancestry. The third, Bridget, was a servant in the 1920s. Natalie finds her journal and brings it to Kathleen. So...what connects these three people?

I wanted to read this book because now anything that contains a journal will...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore. I think I loved this book more. Something about her books resonates with me. This is not a happy book but it is a hopeful book. It is the story of a friendship between widowed Kathleen and cyber-bullied 13 year old Natalie. Natalie finds a diary in the basement of her family home of an Irish immigrant. The bullying storyline was so disturbing and made me grateful my daughters were in school before the age of texting and You Tube. I felt for Kathleen go...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Abigail rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was not impressed with this novel. I found it interesting enough to keep reading, but I can't say much more for it than that. The main character (a 50-something woman) is unlikable and difficult to relate to, and the other major character (a teenage girl), while being more sympathetic, is not much more engaging. The story-within-the-story is difficult to believe, and the connections the author tries to draw between the characters are unlikely at best and downright implausible at worst. Perhaps...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Melanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

I couldn't put this book down. I loved the plot/subplot writing, it kept my attention and intrigue. What I didn't like was that the story sometimes dragged-- the same type of things happening chapter after chapter, and I thought Ms. Moore could have been more concise. Kathleen is a heart broken widow, left alone by a daughter who chose drugs over family. Kathleen finds purpose in helping Natalie, a lost teen who is in trouble. Natalie is not only lost in the middle of her parent's divorce, but s...more

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May 29, 2012 Charlotte rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advanced-readers-copy, nook

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

Told in alternating voices we get a unique view of a bullying situation that is becoming all too common in our country. We get to see the despair that Natalie feels as the bullying escalates and we get to see the urgency that Kathleen feels as she tries to alert someone to what is going on with Natalie. And in between it all we get to read the journal of a young Irish maid who changes the course of Natalie's family history. The author did a fabulous job of...more

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Apr 23, 2012 CoffeeBook Chick rated it 4 of 5 stars

For my full review, please click here: http://www.coffeeandabookchick.com/20...

It seems like lately I'm reading a lot of intense books focusing on loss and regret, but this one touched these elements and shook the foundation much, much more. So Far Away (available for pre-order now) by Meg Mitchell Moore is a reminder to not look away, to not expect that someone else will take care of the problem that is right before you. After all, maybe you're supposed to be the one to fix it.

Bridget was an Ir...more For my full review, please click here: http://www.coffeeandabookchick.com/20...

It seems like lately I'm reading a lot of intense books focusing on loss and regret, but this one touched these elements and shook the foundation much, much more. So Far Away (available for pre-order now) by Meg Mitchell Moore is a reminder to not look away, to not expect that someone else will take care of the problem that is right before you. After all, maybe you're supposed to be the one to fix it.

Bridget was an Irish immigrant who moved to Boston and became a maid for a rich family in the early 1920s. When her diary is uncovered in the cellar of a house by thirteen-year-old Natalie, it's Bridget's story that brings Natalie into Kathleen's life. Through this stirring and heart-rending story, Meg Mitchell Moore has beautifully woven three lives together to create hope for two women who are at different points in life. Natalie is beginning her young adult journey and Kathleen nears retirement. Each has their own pain to share, but both have just as much at stake.

At thirteen-years-old, Natalie is a little older than her years. Dealing with her parents' separation and her mother's depression, along with the cruel cyberbullying from her former best friend is completely devastating and has made her grow up much sooner than she should. People disappoint and drop their loyalties with others all the time, but she shouldn't have had to learn it so young in life. Her independent study project in school has grabbed her interest and has provided the distraction needed for her when she finds an old notebook in the cellar of her house on Milk Street, hidden in the shadowy back corners. Researching its potential relationship to her family brings her to the Massachusetts State Archives and to Kathleen.

In her late fifties, Kathleen feels like she has already lived her life and suffered losses with no chance to recover. With her husband passing away at the start of their marriage, Kathleen's daughter Susannah is everything to her, but when she loses Susannah, too, life becomes just one more day after another. When she meets Natalie, Kathleen doesn't initially understand that maybe this young girl might be someone she can finally help, to make up for all of her earlier losses. She doesn't realize that through Natalie, and through Bridget's diary, Kathleen may even be able to save herself.

I enjoyed this book and found that it was quite difficult to put the story down. Each character had a distinct voice, even secondary characters like Kathleen's co-worker Neil, who was struggling to adopt a child from Haiti with his partner, Adam, ended up being a background story that became just as important to me as the book went along. I enjoyed each aspect of the story and felt all of the crucial messages that the characters delivered, but Natalie's story was ultimately the one I anxiously waited for it to return back to when the perspective shifted either to Kathleen or to Bridget's diary. I guess I just wanted to make sure this young girl was okay. Her tormented school life completely enveloped me, simply because I just can't stand it when people pick on others. I cannot stand it.

Cyberbullying is just not something to sweep under the rug nowadays. Each generation develops different ways, meaner tactics representative of the times to exert influence and control over others, and today's younger generation uses social media and texting to bully. Physical fighting happens, but cyberbullying now adds a completely different complexity to it. School systems can no longer avoid this deeper issue, and I think the biggest message to all of us, those with or without children, those who work with children and anyone who comes in contact with today's generation, should take this passage seriously (note: this is an uncorrected proof so the finished copy may reflect changes):
Who did Kathleen think she was, to think that she could get involved with this mess with Natalie? Then again, who was she to think she couldn't?
With painfully difficult moments and hard truths of life, I enjoyed the story and writing immensely. It's clear that Meg Mitchell Moore has a passion for the subject matter, and she is an author I'll look forward to more from her, and I'll also be sure to pick up her debut novel, The Arrivals, as well.

So Far Away had all the elements I enjoy: Boston, archives, research, an old diary. It's given me a lot to think about and I very much so recommend this book.
(less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Kris Irvin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

This book sucked out my guts, dissected them, and handed them back on a silver platter.

Okay that may be a little extreme.

But really, wow. This was an excellent novel. I loved the characters and they were all so very, painfully real. Especially Natalie. I just can't even.

The subject matter is hard to read. Personally, it made me glad that I just-missed cell phones/personal websites when I was in middle school, because I dealt with some serious bullying but at least it wasn't cyberbullying. Goo...more

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May 18, 2012 Cheryl "Mash" rated it 3 of 5 stars

So Far Away by Meg Mitchell Moore
Published by The Hachette Book Group
Reagan Arthur Books
Publication Date: May 29, 2012
ISBN-10: 0316097691
ISBN-13: 978-0316097697
Pages: 336
Review Copy from: The Hachette Book Group
Edition: ARC TPB
My Rating: 3

Synopsis (from Amazon):
Thirteen-year-old Natalie Gallagher is trying to escape: from her parents' ugly divorce, and from the vicious cyber-bullying of her former best friend. Adrift, confused, she is a girl trying to find her way in a world that seems to eith...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Tiffany (Book Cover Justice) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

Review originally posted at: Book Cover Justice

So Far Away was a beautiful read. It is the story of Natalie Gallagher, a thirteen-year-old girl who is trying to cope with her parents' divorce and the surprising new hatred from her former best friend, and Kathleen Lynch, a widow who works at the library and who hasn't heard from her only daughter in years.

When Natalie goes to the library for help researching her family tree, Kathleen is drawn to her. Natalie reminds her of her daughter, Susannah,...more Review originally posted at: Book Cover Justice

So Far Away was a beautiful read. It is the story of Natalie Gallagher, a thirteen-year-old girl who is trying to cope with her parents' divorce and the surprising new hatred from her former best friend, and Kathleen Lynch, a widow who works at the library and who hasn't heard from her only daughter in years.

When Natalie goes to the library for help researching her family tree, Kathleen is drawn to her. Natalie reminds her of her daughter, Susannah, a heroine addict who ran away from home years earlier. She learns part of Natalie's story: her "dead" mother, the bullying. She wants to help but ultimately makes things worse.

When Natalie discovers and old diary in her basement, she and Kathleen are both intrigued. There is something written inside. Bridget O'Connell has written her story in this diary so that people can one day learn the truth about what really happened all those years ago when she had just arrived in America and took on as a maid for a doctor and his family. The discovery of the diary not only brings to light a terrible tragedy, but it also brings Natalie and Kathleen closer together.

The characters in this story were so endearing. Natalie is a smart girl, tall for her age and feels completely out of place in her body. As if this isn't hard enough to deal with, her parents are getting divorced and she has become the target of intense bullying at the hands of her best friend. She is confused and struggling. Nothing she does seems to stop the bullying and the adults in her life either don't notice or don't care. I felt for her. None of these situations are easy to deal with, but having them all happen at once is devastating. Even though it has been quite some time since I was her age, I still remember what it was like to go through this part of life and it helped me connect with Natalie immediately.

Kathleen Lynch, on the other hand, was the opposite of Natalie. She seemed lost in life and lonely. Still living with regrets over the mistakes she made with her own daughter Kathleen seemed to be barely getting by. Even though she worked hard and loved her job, it just didn't seem like enough. Her sorrow ran very deep and she didn't know how to forgive herself and move on. Even though she seemed a little nosy at times, I still liked her. I felt sorry for her and was desperately hoping that her daughter would somehow show up on her doorstep and Kathleen would get a second chance. I was thankful that she was able to bond with Natalie and start the healing process over her own life.

What I loved most about this book was that there was so much going on, yet it blended beautifully. Natalie and Kathleen's stories are interesting enough that they probably could have each had their own book, but then there was also Bridget's story, which was fantastic just the same. These three stories about completely different lives connect to give you a sense of hope that was most certainly needed for each woman. The writing was also strong and flowed elegantly throughout the pages. After reading this, I'll be moving Mitchell's first book, The Arrivals, towards the top of my reading pile and buying every other release to come. It is a blessing to come across an author who can not only tell you an amazing story but can write it just as beautifully.

I highly recommend So Far Away. The stories of Natalie, Kathleen and Bridget are compelling and leave you filled with a new sense of hope long after you turn the last page.(less)

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Jul 16, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book was stronger than Meg Mitchell Moores first book "The Arrivals" as the plot devices were more developed and gave the story, and intertwining stories within the overall story, somewhere to go.
I enjoyed how even though each characters personal story was seperate and different, they all involved the themes of bullying, motherhood, loss and redemption.
Kathleen having lost her daughter through the actions of someone that was a bully, and her redemtion of trying to get that back by helping...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Tracy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Kathleen Lynch is an archivist in Boston. Her husband was killed when their daughter was in grammar school. Then her daughter got into drugs and ran away as a teenager. Now we are about 10 years down the road and Kathleen continues to feel like a failure. Enter Natalie Gallagher, a 13-year old girl with a special school assignment that took her to the archives. Natalie's parents are recently divorced and her mother is so depressed she spends most days in bed. Her father has moved on to a new wom...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those stories where two very different people meet by chance and that meeting goes on to change each of their lives. Kathleen is a widow who works in the Archives and Natalie is a thirteen-year-old high school freshman. Natalie's parents are separated and her mother has simply shut down, plus her former best friend is now cyber-bullying Natalie. Kathleen has also had her share of hard times, not only was she widowed when her daughter was only 3 years old, but when her daughter was...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Holly rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is an interesting book about bullying and its impact. Natalie is 13 years old, unsure of herself and out of the loop with her parents divorce. Living with a mother who is depressed and a father who has moved on in his life (and doesn't really know how to include her anymore), she is left to herself and the vagaries of teenage bullying of which she is the victim. Through a project she is working on for school, she finds an adult who wants to help Natalie and thus, the story unfolds. There is...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Diane S. rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I first started reading this book I thought that though it was well written that nothing very much was happening, but this is one of those books that slowly but surely draws you in and keeps you there. The characters were wonderful, they became the people who live down the street from you, they were so very human in their failing, their problems and their lives. They tackle real crises, the same ones we all have to face every day, the challenges we try so hard to overcome and it was these c...more

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May 24, 2012 Alyse rated it 5 of 5 stars

I received this book as a GoodReads First Read - and I LOVED it. I enjoyed so many aspects of this book. The length was perfect - long enough for character development, but not so long that I got bored. The characters themselves were diverse and the situations realistic: a mother "losing" her daughter to drugs and the wrong crowd, a gay couple going through the international adoption process, a high school freshman being bullied and losing a best friend, a mother dealing with depression after a...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Oh, how the blurb for this book deceived me. I thought it would be flip flopping back and forth in time telling 2 different stories. And, while you do have a subplot involving the diary of a woman from the 1800's, it is only the impetus to move the present day story along.

I found this book highly depressing. And the storyline involving cyberbullying was incredibly anxiety provoking, in my opinion. It felt to me like so many other contemporary women's fiction where the characters are floating thr...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Claire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Annoying!!!! Very repetitive writing filled with predictable, stereotypical, grating characters.The only likeable person here is Natalie, the 13 year old victim of cyber bullying......everyone else sucks if you ask me. And of course, the ones she is supposed to be able to depend on---parents, guidance counselor---are either too busy with their own issues or telling her to suck it up (gee, didn't see that coming) I suppose the subplot involving Bridget's journal was decent, but its pretty easy to...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Siobhan Fallon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I couldn’t put this book down. I read for three straight days, something I haven't managed to do in a very, VERY long time. Meg Mitchell Moore's Far From Home has three main characters, a lonely older woman working in a library archive, a teenager who goes to the archive with hopes of figuring out her family tree, and the narrator of a 1925 journal that the teenager finds in her basement. Moore weaves together three seemingly disparate stories: cyber bullying, a mother whose daughter went missin...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Regina Spiker rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bullying, cyber-bullies, journals, diaries, teenagers, archivists, divorce, irish-maids

Natalie Gallagher, 13 and neglected - due to her parent's divorce, a father who is caught up in his new girlfriend and a mother who has slid into deep depression - is a girl on the brink. Her once best friend is now a cyberbully partner with popular Taylor Grant and the two send text messages that are cutting, cruel, and demeaning. When Natalie finds an old diary in the basement, while looking for family birth records, she heads to the city library archive where she meets 50 something Kathleen L...more

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May 28, 2012 Kelly Houser rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel was very interesting. It took two characters who having nothing in common and really no reason to interact with one another, and forged a very sweet and important relationship between the two characters.

Natalie and Kathleen are terrific characters. The author used these characters to inform and challenge the ideas we have about teenagers, mothers, and women. Natalie gives us a private look into what it is like to be constantly bullied by peers and people that are supposed to be your f...more

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About Meg Mitchell Moore

Meg Mitchell Moore worked for several years as a journalist. Her work has been published in Yankee, Continental, Women’s Health, Advertising Age and many other business and consumer magazines. She received a B.A. from Providence College and a master’s degree in English Literature from New York University. The Arrivals is her first novel. Her second novel will be published by Reagan Arthur Books in...more

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