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Stolen
by Lucy Christopher (Goodreads Author)
by Lucy Christopher (Goodreads Author)
Kat Kennedy's review
bookshelves: contemporary-fiction, kat-s-book-reviews, i-learned-something-new, leaves-awesomeness-behind, favorites
May 14, 10
bookshelves: contemporary-fiction, kat-s-book-reviews, i-learned-something-new, leaves-awesomeness-behind, favorites
Read from May 13 to 14, 2010
Stolen is such a singular reading experience that its difficult to decide how I feel about it.
Gemma is a sixteen year old English girl kidnapped by Ty and taken into the Western Australian outback where she is held prisoner.
I had to give this book five stars for several reasons. One of the reasons is because it was so fantastically well written. Beautiful, touching, heart breaking and real. Christopher doesn't spare on the details both good and bad. Never before have I felt a book to be so real, so gritty and tangible.
This book is a journey into the world of Stockholm Syndrome and the craft of Christopher's skill left even me, feeling the effects of this baffling psychological problem.
The characters of Ty and Gemma are fantastic. At first I was frustrated with Gemma. I was so used to reading kick-ass female protagonists who could do anything that it was aggravating to be stuck with a sixteen year old who was incapable and terror stricken. Yet she gets to you. Her pain, her struggles. She's a real sixteen year old. This isn't some fantasy character that can do everything. Yet she has a sense of will and spirit. Perhaps her defining characteristic is the truth that she is willing to tell herself - completely and honestly.
Ty is also amazing as a character. He is equal parts scary, confused, angry, hostile, delusional. He is also beautiful, gentle, capable, intense and loving. He is such a mixed bag of all these things.
If you're looking for action and suspense in this book - you won't find it. Yet I personally found the strength of the characters and the outback itself was strong enough to carry this story without needing a great deal of edge-of-your-seat intensity. The mental intensity was enough for me.
Others may find this story boring but I found it touching and amazing. I highly recommend it.
Gemma is a sixteen year old English girl kidnapped by Ty and taken into the Western Australian outback where she is held prisoner.
I had to give this book five stars for several reasons. One of the reasons is because it was so fantastically well written. Beautiful, touching, heart breaking and real. Christopher doesn't spare on the details both good and bad. Never before have I felt a book to be so real, so gritty and tangible.
This book is a journey into the world of Stockholm Syndrome and the craft of Christopher's skill left even me, feeling the effects of this baffling psychological problem.
The characters of Ty and Gemma are fantastic. At first I was frustrated with Gemma. I was so used to reading kick-ass female protagonists who could do anything that it was aggravating to be stuck with a sixteen year old who was incapable and terror stricken. Yet she gets to you. Her pain, her struggles. She's a real sixteen year old. This isn't some fantasy character that can do everything. Yet she has a sense of will and spirit. Perhaps her defining characteristic is the truth that she is willing to tell herself - completely and honestly.
Ty is also amazing as a character. He is equal parts scary, confused, angry, hostile, delusional. He is also beautiful, gentle, capable, intense and loving. He is such a mixed bag of all these things.
If you're looking for action and suspense in this book - you won't find it. Yet I personally found the strength of the characters and the outback itself was strong enough to carry this story without needing a great deal of edge-of-your-seat intensity. The mental intensity was enough for me.
Others may find this story boring but I found it touching and amazing. I highly recommend it.
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Reading Progress
| 05/13/2010 | page 100 |
|
33.22% | "I keep trying to remember that Ty is a crazy person that KIDNAPPED Gemma but it's getting hard... Oh lord this is weird!" 1 comment |
Comments (showing 1-50 of 101) (101 new)
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Zarakoda
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May 15, 2010 01:42pm
Thanks for review. That sounds really interesting.
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I'm a bit surprised by this review- mostly what I've heard about this book is stridently negative. Suppose I should just read it for myself, then.
I always become more interested a book the more controversy of opinion is. You've increased my interest, Anila.
Ha! I'm not surprised about the controversy of this book. On the surface it seems like it is the penultimate anti-feminist romantic crap.Man steals girl. Man loves girl. Girl grows to love man.
I lived in Indonesia where stealing girls is still a practice that occurs entirely too often. Believe me when I say I would have HATED this book had it been the premise.
Instead it's a pertinent psychological look into the effect of Stockholm syndrome. Ty is not a hard character to love. He's got a beautiful spirit. A misguided, child-like spirit. My husband calls him a dark Peter Pan and that's exactly who he is.
But the great and amazing part of this novel is the strength of the female protagonist at the end - making a decision that I'm not entirely sure that I could have made.
It's fascinating, beautiful and it kept me up at night worrying about Ty's fate and what was going to happen to him.
(I can no longer find the particularly scathing review. Oh well.)That is, if I recall correctly, what it was being criticized for. And it does trigger my Angry Feminist Alarms a bit just from the premise, but I'll give it a shot anyhow, particularly with your glowing reccomendation.
Anila, you make me laugh. Your scathing reviews do amuse (or anything pertaining to ranting). But still, glad you'll look an open eye of it if you do read it.I can appreciate the in-depth character with the interesting psychology; those are of course the characters I appreciate the most in literature (or plot... and from your comment of the protagonist's choice, I gather this is a bit of both). I guess I'll have to read it now to see if it's as interesting as you say. Dark Peter Pan? Sounds intriguing.
Scathing reviews are the best - I just personally felt this novel is far too well executed and ended to deserve one.Now if we're talking about Skye o'Malley on the otherhand... *shudders*
Scathing reviews are the most entertaining to read and draw in a lot of attention. Some scathing reviews are awful and short-sighted, however. I have read just as effective lauding reviews.Hm?
Oh, I've been reading those Skye O'Malley reviews for kicks when they show up in my feed. It sounds pretty awful.Z, you don't want to know.
No, Zarakoda. Really. Leave Skye O'Malley alone! Protect your brain cells. Even looking upon the cover of that book robs them from you. It is a black hole of intelligence, sucking it away in greater quantities the closer you get!Maybe a more apt analogy would be Pandora's box. Once you open it, you can't UNopen it. :P
Go have a look at the reviews if you want but... just don't touch the book! *Makes eville sign to ward off Skye O'Malley*
Sounds to me like SO'M is a Pandora's Box without Hope hiding near the bottom, too.Even the reviews have been just... just... ugh.
That one with the quotes from it and American Psycho? (I read a lot of these reviews, yes.) That one was scarring.
I didn't read the one with the quotes from American Psycho! Sounds like I'm missing out! *Rushes off to find this review*
Wow. This sounds like worse than Pandora's Box almost... I have resisted the urge to check out these infamous reviews thus far.
LOL. Okay, both of you have to go read Stolen now. NEITHER of you are allowed to read Skye O'Malley. Does that make everything easier?
I was able to read the first 30-ish pages of this book and I really like it. As soon as I finish my mountain of other books I'm going to purchase this one. I can't wait. P.S. I'm thinking if I was ever taken hostage with a group of other people, I'd be the first to succumb to Stockholm syndrome. I'm too kind for my own good, forgiveness (usually) comes easy for me and I'm frighteningly sympathetic. I'm always trying to see things from everyone else's POV, not to justify someone's actions, just to understand what motivates others to do what they do.
Penny - I agree, I'm a really empathetic person and I think I'd probably be the first to succumb as well.Zarakoda and Anila - good to see that you two can follow orders! LOL! I like your style Anila.
*skeptical eyebrow raise*Maybe I overdid it a bit?
I'm not being sarcastic, if that's what you suspect, Z. Just enthusiastic/odd.
Was the reason for your sailing jargon because I'm a saucy minx and just a little bit domineering? Because if so... yey!
Nope, sorry. It was because I'm in two sailing-centric roleplays on Gaia at the moment.But come to think of it you do somewhat remind me of one of the other characters. :D
Glad I can still amuse someone. *grins at Kat, glares at Z*And yes, it does. Besides, one of those features the genderless organless OOH SHINY healer I kind of told you about.
Yay!Actually, I have a lot of work to do with that. Whole different religious-type structures for each element, etc.
*nodnod*Elements lend themselves to being really interesting. Personifying them is fun, too. I wish I could link you to the RP itself- my character is fantastic- but the forums are hidden.
*Wanders in chewing an apple*Oi! What the hell are you two still doing here? LOL! I don't understand half of what you've said!
Why not still be in here? Being blabbermouth = epic win. And, knowing Anila, there's no way you're going to understand her. I often resort to nodding my head and saying "cool" when it comes to her beloved RPs (so sorry to break that news rotfl). Nevertheless, I do in fact understand the current conversation... and to respond to that, Anila, I do think that personification of elements lends an interesting literary development... mayhap I should expand upon the concept myself somewhere, somehow, sometime. No mind the forums are hidden - if you positively have to make me read it, I have no doubts you shall copy and paste it into my email.
Dun worry, Kat- we speak gibberish a lot. We're up to 115 messages on Z's Furies of Calderon review, and are now discussing semantics and nothing related to the book whatsoever. But if you like we can remove our blabber from your review.Durr. Good point, Z. I may do that, if you're interested. Did you ever get around to reading that 1x1, though? (I think I sent you that...)
No stealing my Spirits, is all I have to say.
I have to admit, though, I wouldn't have latched onto it quite so quickly if I hadn't been reading Furies of Calderon at the same time.
Nothing wrong with talking about sematics though!!! (says the person who's interested in semantics linguistics for one of her majors)Me no speak RP talk. 1x1?
I won't, I won't, I'm too creative for that, you know that. For goodness sakes my Muses have enough to do without borrowing from someone else. :P
Hey, anything can inspire us. :) And NOW we're speaking about Furies of Calderon under * checks title * "Stolen" wow we be skilled.
No! You're not allowed to move your you blabber! I love your blabber! Your blabber is a work of art!
1x1 = RP between just two people. IE, that thing you and I were writing back and forth last summer was technically a 1x1. If we had added in someone else (not naming names, but you know who I'm talking about I think) it would no longer be a 1x1. Get it?Also usually has connotations for predictable romance between primary characters, but not always; that's usually a function of how desparate the players are. EX: the 1x1 I referred to has little to no chemistry at all... it is marvelous for that very reason. But the long form of 1x1 is 'one on one', so you can see how that's misinterpreted by the uninitiated easily.
This is true, but I had to be sure.
Crossing books works just fine. And yes, we do be skilled. (We grammar do good, yes?)
Well, in this case the blabber shall stay put. Ma'am!
