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Still Missing
by Chevy Stevens (Goodreads Author)
by Chevy Stevens (Goodreads Author)
SPOILERY
As something of a connoisseur of "damsels in distress", abduction, captivity books, I was kind of surprised I hadn't heard of this one right away. The cover blurb is intriguing, as the story of this woman's year in captivity is told as she reveals it to her therapist. In truth, though, I'm having a hard time reading it. I can't connect with anyone in the story, and I don't know if that's the author's intention or not. The narrator is understandably damaged, scarred, bitter, but it's hard to find any but the most basic human compassion for her because she is so intensely unlikable. Of course, we know this is as a result of her ordeal, but perhaps if the author had shown something positive about her BEFORE the abduction, we'd be more torn apart and bitter on her behalf, but right from the beginning she comes off as an angry, combative and selfish -- and this is BEFORE anything happens to her.
Perhaps the message here is that even the most unlikable victims are still victims and still need our support, but to be honest, I only read about four pages at a time before my mind starts wandering.
The details of her life after being taken are interesting, and the bits and pieces we learn about her captor are an interesting (if not completely predictable) explanation for his behavior and rituals. He also knows everything about her past and psychoanalyzes her (again, a lot of obvious "my mother loved my sister more" revelations) in a stalkerish way that is sometimes entertaining. There are certainly scenes and events that build suspense and unspoken horror as you wonder what could possibly happen next, but then we're quickly jarred from the scene by her warning her therapist not to help her or not try to save her or any of the other ten thousand "I don't need your help" cliched-statements we hear in women's fiction every day, as if the author needs to remind us that this lady is a bad ass, and she swears, and she ain't no delicate flower.
I'm sad because the concept of this book is right up my alley, the author's construction of telling it in flashback is totally appropriate, and I love hearing about how her life has been turned upside down since coming home. It's the meat and potatoes of this book that really let me down.
As something of a connoisseur of "damsels in distress", abduction, captivity books, I was kind of surprised I hadn't heard of this one right away. The cover blurb is intriguing, as the story of this woman's year in captivity is told as she reveals it to her therapist. In truth, though, I'm having a hard time reading it. I can't connect with anyone in the story, and I don't know if that's the author's intention or not. The narrator is understandably damaged, scarred, bitter, but it's hard to find any but the most basic human compassion for her because she is so intensely unlikable. Of course, we know this is as a result of her ordeal, but perhaps if the author had shown something positive about her BEFORE the abduction, we'd be more torn apart and bitter on her behalf, but right from the beginning she comes off as an angry, combative and selfish -- and this is BEFORE anything happens to her.
Perhaps the message here is that even the most unlikable victims are still victims and still need our support, but to be honest, I only read about four pages at a time before my mind starts wandering.
The details of her life after being taken are interesting, and the bits and pieces we learn about her captor are an interesting (if not completely predictable) explanation for his behavior and rituals. He also knows everything about her past and psychoanalyzes her (again, a lot of obvious "my mother loved my sister more" revelations) in a stalkerish way that is sometimes entertaining. There are certainly scenes and events that build suspense and unspoken horror as you wonder what could possibly happen next, but then we're quickly jarred from the scene by her warning her therapist not to help her or not try to save her or any of the other ten thousand "I don't need your help" cliched-statements we hear in women's fiction every day, as if the author needs to remind us that this lady is a bad ass, and she swears, and she ain't no delicate flower.
I'm sad because the concept of this book is right up my alley, the author's construction of telling it in flashback is totally appropriate, and I love hearing about how her life has been turned upside down since coming home. It's the meat and potatoes of this book that really let me down.
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Lori
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Oct 17, 2011 10:06am
Jessica... i feel the same way as you... i'm curious what books similar to this one you have read which you could suggest.
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"perhaps if the author had shown something positive about her BEFORE the abduction, we'd be more torn apart and bitter on her behalf" this is such a great point! I was trying to figure out why I didn't feel more emotional about the character being kidnapped, and all of the horror she went through, and this really captured it. It seems like her being captured is the only thing used to build her character, and it should have been so much more complex than that. I understand that the book hinges on how hugely this affected her, but it would have been more impactful if we were given more of the character beforehand.
