"Brave and unforgettable. Scott Bradfield creates a country for the reader to wander through, holding Sal's hand, assuming goodness." -Los Angeles ...
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Aug 02, 2011
Claire
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http://www.tkreviews.org/#/the-people-wh...
Scott Bradfield’s new novel begins as Salome “Sal” Jensen, a three-year-old, is taken from her home by “the man who fixed the hot water heater.” He tells her to call him Daddy, Sal acquiesces with a naïve acceptance to do as she is told, and they go to live in a squalid apartment where she is often left alone. Eventually Daddy abandons Sal, but instead of being demonized as kidnapper, Daddy serves as a kind of philosopher, spouting wisdom and More...
Scott Bradfield’s new novel begins as Salome “Sal” Jensen, a three-year-old, is taken from her home by “the man who fixed the hot water heater.” He tells her to call him Daddy, Sal acquiesces with a naïve acceptance to do as she is told, and they go to live in a squalid apartment where she is often left alone. Eventually Daddy abandons Sal, but instead of being demonized as kidnapper, Daddy serves as a kind of philosopher, spouting wisdom and More...
Oct 11, 2010
Lori
rated it:
Sent by publisher for review
God, I love indie publishers. They put out some of the most interesting books I have ever read.
The People Who Watched Her Pass By is author Scott Bradfield's fifth novel, though it is the first book I have read by him.
And it's a horrifying concept - a 3 year old girl kidnapped from her home by the hot water heater fixer. Not only does this guy kidnap her, he deserts her too. And it's the story of this 3 year old girl wandering from house More...
God, I love indie publishers. They put out some of the most interesting books I have ever read.
The People Who Watched Her Pass By is author Scott Bradfield's fifth novel, though it is the first book I have read by him.
And it's a horrifying concept - a 3 year old girl kidnapped from her home by the hot water heater fixer. Not only does this guy kidnap her, he deserts her too. And it's the story of this 3 year old girl wandering from house More...
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Nov 08, 2010
I am in such a reading rut, and have been since September or so. I got through Freedom, but it took almost a month, and since then, I haven't found a book that really captures my heart and mind, and makes me put down all other tasks so that I can read it.
This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I purchased it without really even looking at it. There's some beautiful prose, but the premise was a little too unbelievable to me. A three-year-old girl gets taken from her home by More...
This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I purchased it without really even looking at it. There's some beautiful prose, but the premise was a little too unbelievable to me. A three-year-old girl gets taken from her home by More...
Apr 29, 2010
Eric
rated it: 
I'm pretty torn on this one. I want to like it so much and scenes/thoughts/philosophies are described beautifully but things are also too... stagnant. Every paragraph feels shaped for the last sentence and refuses to go beyond that point. I felt like the author thought each paragraph needed to end with a bang in order to be justified as a paragraph. Ultimately it just made me constantly wonder what the next point he was trying to make was. I suppose it just seems a bit too formulaic.
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Jun 04, 2010
Tom
rated it:
A painful, sad book (with its lighter moments) about a little girl, somewhere between 3 to 5 years old, who is alternately abducted and abandoned by a series of men and women. While it's never explicitly clear whether she has been sexually abused, the larger issue is the fact that she has been made other peoples' property--and disposed as such--according to their whims and their desires to satisfy themselves. . . A slant commentary on materialism and the ways in which people view and value thems
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Jun 23, 2010
Jason
rated it:
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
One of the obvious main benefits of small presses is that since both costs and expectations are lowered, it allows for much more passionate and idiosyncratic choices over what exactly gets published in the first place, titles which everyone involved knows beforehand will be intensely disliked More...
One of the obvious main benefits of small presses is that since both costs and expectations are lowered, it allows for much more passionate and idiosyncratic choices over what exactly gets published in the first place, titles which everyone involved knows beforehand will be intensely disliked More...
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Nov 26, 2010
Rick
rated it: 
I just never got into this book. I think I just found it too creepy that there was this underlying sense that the young girl, who is the protagonist, was being taken care of by the ocassional pedophile. It just made me feel very uneasy.
I also found the book very unbelievable, because a young child cannot form the kind of thoughts the author put in her head.
I recommend you skip this book and read something else.
I also found the book very unbelievable, because a young child cannot form the kind of thoughts the author put in her head.
I recommend you skip this book and read something else.
Oct 18, 2010
Mark
rated it:
This was my first exposure to Scott Bradfield's writing, and I agree with another reviewer on here, that some passages are so beautiful that I wanted to clip them out and save them as keepsakes. The storyline itself is odd, and somewhat disturbing. Three-year-old Salome is abducted by the water heater repairman, and then shuffled from house to house, and at times even living in a laundromat. The story is told through her eyes, although not in her voice. In fact, the voice of the novel is quite p
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 27, 2011
Brian
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This has to be hands down the most bizarre book I've read in years. A little girl is taken from her home by a boiler repairman. And she is forced to live in bizarre conditions, and then she goes from one home to the next. And just when you think the characters can't get any more stranger they do. The plot didnt' make a WHOLE lot of sense, and it was so strange, but overall, I enjoyed it!
Jul 22, 2011
Raina
rated it:
I did not enjoy this book at all. It made absolutely no sense. The events that occurred and the language attributed to the 4-year old girl (protagonist) was completely unbelievable. This book was described as "often hilarious" on the back cover. I didn't find anything funny about it. Maybe I just didn't "get it."
May 14, 2010
Jess
rated it:
interesting approach, but a little too weird to swallow. ideas were not new to me, so I think I've already had the punch that the story was supposed to deliver. i can see how others would like it, it just wasn't my deal.
Nov 07, 2010
I actually really liked this, but I find I can't really deal with stories about little kids in danger (even if they're metaphoric kids, in metaphoric danger).
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