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My Sunshine Away
"It was the summer everything changed...."
My Sunshine Away unfolds in a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom. But in the summer of 1989, when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson--free spirit, track star, and belle of the block--experiences a horrible crime late one evening near her home, it becomes apparent that this idyllic stretch of Southern suburbia has a dark side, too.
In My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh brilliantly juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love. Acutely wise and deeply honest, it is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive.
My Sunshine Away unfolds in a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom. But in the summer of 1989, when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson--free spirit, track star, and belle of the block--experiences a horrible crime late one evening near her home, it becomes apparent that this idyllic stretch of Southern suburbia has a dark side, too.
In My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh brilliantly juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love. Acutely wise and deeply honest, it is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive.
306 pages, Hardcover
First published February 10, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,311 reviews
March 4, 2015
I bought this book after reading several stellar reviews and spent my entire time reading it wishing I hadn't. The story is told from the point of view of a grown man looking back 20 years, describing the story through the eyes of himself as a hormonal, love struck teen. There is a horrible event that happens early in the book and then it meanders until the very end when a lackluster "surprise" reveal is supposed to shock the reader. Unfortunately, no amount of reveal would have rectified reading page upon page of musings by an uninteresting, unlikeable kid surrounded by boring, cardboard characters. And what the critics described as the author's ability to bring us back to the 1980s, to see and feel them was actually just a detour to discuss the Challenger disaster and two hurricanes that hit New Orleans but affected Baton Rouge, the setting in the book. Pages and pages were devoted to the heavy traffic, influx of refugees from New Orleans and the rise in crime...which had NOTHING to do with the story. And, in my "favorite" scene in the book, he went on for PAGES about his mother's crush on Robert Stack and the old show he hosted in the 80s, Unsolved Mysteries. Paragraphs were spent describing his voice. So, if like me, you've read the good reviews for this book and expect a nostalgic setting and a gripping story, I would recommend moving on.
October 26, 2014
With language wrought by skill and a plot never void of movement, M.O. Walsh has written an ode to the power of memory, a beautiful examination of the balance between regret and hope. This novel is about the moments in our lives that hang with us, memories that follow us like ghosts. It's about the choices we make when the stakes are the highest, what we choose to do and what we choose not to, and in that sense, it is simply about being human.
August 22, 2016
“I want to rely on my memory. It’s important that you understand this. What else, besides love, do we have?”
M.O. Walsh’s narrator wanders to and fro through the sultry days and nights of 1989 Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A summer when he was somewhere between a boy and a man, consumed with a love only dreamt of by the young with Lindy Simpson, a fifteen-year-old free-spirited girl. Neighbors.
"It was the summer everything changed...."
Their charmed childhood unravels the moment Lindy is the object of a violent crime, and life is forever changed for Lindy. The feeling of safety evaporates like a ghost, leaving only memories of feeling secure and protected within these streets. The streets feel darker, more fraught with evil. Neighbors look at neighbors wondering who could be so despicable as to perpetrate this crime.
“…the lawn appeared to be full of bodies, full of the people they’d made mistakes with in life now tethered to them and ill-rested and serving no purpose but to remind them of the one awful thing that life is made up, ever increasingly, of what you cannot change.”
A very atmospheric read, elegantly told through a dream-like prose, this is a dark, but also charming, coming-of-age story not to be missed. On family, our memories – be they good or bad, and how they shape the selves we become, the power of hope and ultimately to forgive. We all have memories that follow us through our whole lives, and just when we’ve begun to let them go, to return to some other land that time forgot, they tap us on the shoulder again, and we sigh. With fondness or sadness or regret.
A lovely debut novel.
M.O. Walsh’s narrator wanders to and fro through the sultry days and nights of 1989 Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A summer when he was somewhere between a boy and a man, consumed with a love only dreamt of by the young with Lindy Simpson, a fifteen-year-old free-spirited girl. Neighbors.
"It was the summer everything changed...."
Their charmed childhood unravels the moment Lindy is the object of a violent crime, and life is forever changed for Lindy. The feeling of safety evaporates like a ghost, leaving only memories of feeling secure and protected within these streets. The streets feel darker, more fraught with evil. Neighbors look at neighbors wondering who could be so despicable as to perpetrate this crime.
“…the lawn appeared to be full of bodies, full of the people they’d made mistakes with in life now tethered to them and ill-rested and serving no purpose but to remind them of the one awful thing that life is made up, ever increasingly, of what you cannot change.”
A very atmospheric read, elegantly told through a dream-like prose, this is a dark, but also charming, coming-of-age story not to be missed. On family, our memories – be they good or bad, and how they shape the selves we become, the power of hope and ultimately to forgive. We all have memories that follow us through our whole lives, and just when we’ve begun to let them go, to return to some other land that time forgot, they tap us on the shoulder again, and we sigh. With fondness or sadness or regret.
A lovely debut novel.
September 21, 2016
This beautifully written melancholy story has me wrapped in a blanket of nostalgia for those bittersweet days of roaming the neighbor with a posse of kids in a time that felt safer but was not. I need some time to digest this before I post my review to Goodreads (not FB) but I will say this was among the best writing I have ever read. This resonated so deeply with me. 5 (million) tears...I mean stars.
I never wrote a review of this book but I still think about it often and plan to re-read it before the end of the year.
I never wrote a review of this book but I still think about it often and plan to re-read it before the end of the year.
April 13, 2015
On the first page of My Sunshine Away, a fifteen-year-old girl is raped. For the next 300 pages, the narrator, the girl's male classmate and neighbor, whines about how much her rape affects him. On the literal second-to-last-page of the book, he realizes "life is not always about me and the unloading of my conscience. The story of Lindys' rape, for instance. It is about Lindy. And that is all." I wish he had realized this 300 pages ago, because the 300 pages in between are insufferable. Perhaps the conclusion is an attempt to break a cycle of rape culture, but by making it the literal second-to-last-page is way too little, way too late. The narrator also repeatedly makes excuses for his behavior saying "hey, boys will be boys" which defeats any noble purpose this book may have had.
The story is set in Baton Rouge, LA, and although the narrator tells us that Louisiana is not the shithole you think it is, what he shows us is that Louisiana is the shithole you think it is -- hot, buggy, giant insects, etc. There is a lot of that dishonesty in the book, telling the reader one thing, but showing him another. Also, this is a whitewashed Louisiana, with no minorities or LGBT characters in sight.
Putting aside my SJW instincts, this is still a bad adult book. The main character seems to think he is in love with the rape victim for the entire book, but he doesn't know what love actually is. He has it confused with obsessions and lust, and he never quite seems to entangle the two. Most of his "love" is focused on what she can do for him -- kiss him, show him her boobs, etc. When he finally decides to do something for her, it's not something like help her train for the track team or ask her questions about her personal life, it's /find her rapist./ The main goal, of course, is to "save" her and gain access to her vagina. Going from objectifying her to wanting to save her is not a leap in maturity, it is merely flipping the same coin to the other, slightly less tarnished side.
There is some growth, as mentioned, that comes at the end. And the author appears to suspect what a douchebro his narrator is. Lindy, the rape victim, actually calls him out on it. "That's why you act so interested in me. So you can be a little detective and solve the case." Unfortunately, the author discredits this when, in a 16-year-jump a few pages later, Lindy admits that the narrator was just trying to protect her. This is not the same as forgiveness; this is re-writing what actually happened.
Perhaps the narrator wouldn't have experience such slow growth if he didn't spend so much damn time going off on unrelated tangents. There is an entire chapter about how Hurricane Katrina affected Baton Rouge, again a "waaah, this disaster that ruined millions of lives affects me!!" but in a much briefer form. This book takes place in the early 90s. Katrina was in 2005. The chapter reads like a bad Thought Catalog essay inserted for padding. Jesmyn Ward wrote about a town actually affected by Katrina and did it much better, instead of appropriating the disaster for some nebulous purpose.
Things get worse when he says things like, "What else, besides love, do we have?" or "There's nothing worse, after all, is there, than having to endure a love that you don't return?" (except maybe rape) or "What was that exactly? An animal? Some sort of Peeping Tom? A sensitive boy racked with love and guilt?" (Definitely not Option C.) or -- "It broke my heart like life does."
Barf, y'all.
This is not an adult novel. This is a young adult novel, one that, with some tweaks, might actually be decent. But in today's world of eternal adolescence, this seems to pass as a book to be marketed to adults.
Speaking of marketing, let's play "What the hell are these other authors thinking?" It seems that all the author adjacent to Louisiana had to blurb it, contributing to the decline of Southern fiction. The blurbs on the back are so misleading. Kathryn Stockett, Jill McCorkle, and Matthew Thomas think this is a mystery. And Anne Rice is "swept up" by the "wisdom and compassion of the narrator" missing the complete lack of empathy the narrator has for anyone else. Hannah Pitard says it "make[s] us long for the heartache of youth and its inevitable sins" which makes me wonder if she even read the last page, which pretty much is the narrator saying he regrets everything and would do it differently. And, Matthew Thomas again, with his extra-long blurb, says "we need more novelists with the guts and clarity of M.O. Walsh." Yes, we need more guts and clarity. This book has neither. Please, please no.
The story is set in Baton Rouge, LA, and although the narrator tells us that Louisiana is not the shithole you think it is, what he shows us is that Louisiana is the shithole you think it is -- hot, buggy, giant insects, etc. There is a lot of that dishonesty in the book, telling the reader one thing, but showing him another. Also, this is a whitewashed Louisiana, with no minorities or LGBT characters in sight.
Putting aside my SJW instincts, this is still a bad adult book. The main character seems to think he is in love with the rape victim for the entire book, but he doesn't know what love actually is. He has it confused with obsessions and lust, and he never quite seems to entangle the two. Most of his "love" is focused on what she can do for him -- kiss him, show him her boobs, etc. When he finally decides to do something for her, it's not something like help her train for the track team or ask her questions about her personal life, it's /find her rapist./ The main goal, of course, is to "save" her and gain access to her vagina. Going from objectifying her to wanting to save her is not a leap in maturity, it is merely flipping the same coin to the other, slightly less tarnished side.
There is some growth, as mentioned, that comes at the end. And the author appears to suspect what a douchebro his narrator is. Lindy, the rape victim, actually calls him out on it. "That's why you act so interested in me. So you can be a little detective and solve the case." Unfortunately, the author discredits this when, in a 16-year-jump a few pages later, Lindy admits that the narrator was just trying to protect her. This is not the same as forgiveness; this is re-writing what actually happened.
Perhaps the narrator wouldn't have experience such slow growth if he didn't spend so much damn time going off on unrelated tangents. There is an entire chapter about how Hurricane Katrina affected Baton Rouge, again a "waaah, this disaster that ruined millions of lives affects me!!" but in a much briefer form. This book takes place in the early 90s. Katrina was in 2005. The chapter reads like a bad Thought Catalog essay inserted for padding. Jesmyn Ward wrote about a town actually affected by Katrina and did it much better, instead of appropriating the disaster for some nebulous purpose.
Things get worse when he says things like, "What else, besides love, do we have?" or "There's nothing worse, after all, is there, than having to endure a love that you don't return?" (except maybe rape) or "What was that exactly? An animal? Some sort of Peeping Tom? A sensitive boy racked with love and guilt?" (Definitely not Option C.) or -- "It broke my heart like life does."
Barf, y'all.
This is not an adult novel. This is a young adult novel, one that, with some tweaks, might actually be decent. But in today's world of eternal adolescence, this seems to pass as a book to be marketed to adults.
Speaking of marketing, let's play "What the hell are these other authors thinking?" It seems that all the author adjacent to Louisiana had to blurb it, contributing to the decline of Southern fiction. The blurbs on the back are so misleading. Kathryn Stockett, Jill McCorkle, and Matthew Thomas think this is a mystery. And Anne Rice is "swept up" by the "wisdom and compassion of the narrator" missing the complete lack of empathy the narrator has for anyone else. Hannah Pitard says it "make[s] us long for the heartache of youth and its inevitable sins" which makes me wonder if she even read the last page, which pretty much is the narrator saying he regrets everything and would do it differently. And, Matthew Thomas again, with his extra-long blurb, says "we need more novelists with the guts and clarity of M.O. Walsh." Yes, we need more guts and clarity. This book has neither. Please, please no.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2019
Beautiful... beautiful..... A special, poetic read and a book of rare quality.
4.5, may change it to five, have to let it sink in... It's not an easy read (at least, not for me) and it's not fast paced so I did spend some time getting into it, the story enfolds at a pace that rather fits the stiffling heat of the Louisiana swamps... and you just have to adjust your pace too, it's too hot anyway to speed it up. And then.... enjoy the story, the characters, the environment, the descriptions.... Intriguing and very well written.
It is the first novel of M.O. Walsh, writer and teacher. Recommended!
There were four suspects in the crime that occurred directly on the sidewalk of Pine Creek Road. It was a crime impossible during the daylight, when we neighbourhood kids would have been tearing around in go-karts, colouring chalk figures on our driveways, or chasing snakes down into storm gutters. But at night the streets of Woodland Hills sat empty and quiet, except for the pleasure of frogs greeting the mosquitoes, that rose in squadrons from the swamps behind our properties in Baton Rouge...I should tell you now that I was one of the suspects. Hear me out. Let me explain.
4.5, may change it to five, have to let it sink in... It's not an easy read (at least, not for me) and it's not fast paced so I did spend some time getting into it, the story enfolds at a pace that rather fits the stiffling heat of the Louisiana swamps... and you just have to adjust your pace too, it's too hot anyway to speed it up. And then.... enjoy the story, the characters, the environment, the descriptions.... Intriguing and very well written.
It is the first novel of M.O. Walsh, writer and teacher. Recommended!
There were four suspects in the crime that occurred directly on the sidewalk of Pine Creek Road. It was a crime impossible during the daylight, when we neighbourhood kids would have been tearing around in go-karts, colouring chalk figures on our driveways, or chasing snakes down into storm gutters. But at night the streets of Woodland Hills sat empty and quiet, except for the pleasure of frogs greeting the mosquitoes, that rose in squadrons from the swamps behind our properties in Baton Rouge...I should tell you now that I was one of the suspects. Hear me out. Let me explain.
September 21, 2016
Suspenseful Literary Ballad of Boy's Path to True Manhood: Husband, Father, Son and Brother
It's rare to find a book that's so piercing, so damn good that it leaves you speechless for a spell, but it's Stradivarius-rare to find a book that's mind-tripping in the sense that, as I'm reading, I think the protagonist was as close to being me as I've ever read, move it over a state, my sisters are younger not older and my parents weren't divorced (but did separate briefly). To say this novel provoked self-reflection is a Mississippi River-sized understatement.
My Sunshine Away is a lyrical Louisiana novel traveling a boy's path toward manhood through burning memories of first love, the pain of non-requital, juvenile mistakes and self-doubts, going from innocence to the teen male's idolatry of sex and objectification of females, the protagonist learns life's hard lessons via a host of females and their relationships to the wrong kind of men, including his mother who was abandoned by his adulterous and absent father, his sister who had a penchant for abusive boyfriends, and his first love who was raped and struggled mightily to move on.
I truly love this book. It is so many things: suspenseful, literary, coming-of-age. And yet, it doesn't fit neatly into one, rather it transcends categorization. It is, most of all, a melody of the evolution of a young teen into a man, a man of character, of morals, and of responsibility, first and foremost, to his children and the women in his life: a real father to his kids, a devoted husband to his wife, a caring son to his mother and a brother grateful for his sisters.
A high recommendation.
It's rare to find a book that's so piercing, so damn good that it leaves you speechless for a spell, but it's Stradivarius-rare to find a book that's mind-tripping in the sense that, as I'm reading, I think the protagonist was as close to being me as I've ever read, move it over a state, my sisters are younger not older and my parents weren't divorced (but did separate briefly). To say this novel provoked self-reflection is a Mississippi River-sized understatement.
My Sunshine Away is a lyrical Louisiana novel traveling a boy's path toward manhood through burning memories of first love, the pain of non-requital, juvenile mistakes and self-doubts, going from innocence to the teen male's idolatry of sex and objectification of females, the protagonist learns life's hard lessons via a host of females and their relationships to the wrong kind of men, including his mother who was abandoned by his adulterous and absent father, his sister who had a penchant for abusive boyfriends, and his first love who was raped and struggled mightily to move on.
I truly love this book. It is so many things: suspenseful, literary, coming-of-age. And yet, it doesn't fit neatly into one, rather it transcends categorization. It is, most of all, a melody of the evolution of a young teen into a man, a man of character, of morals, and of responsibility, first and foremost, to his children and the women in his life: a real father to his kids, a devoted husband to his wife, a caring son to his mother and a brother grateful for his sisters.
A high recommendation.
August 7, 2017
January book club read
It was the summer that everything changed>
Debut Novel by M.O. Walsh unfolds in a Baton Rouge Neighbourhood in the summer of 1989 when popular track star fifteen year old Lindy Simpson experiences a horrible crime late one evening in her neighbourhood. No one witnessed the attack and but suspicion falls on everyone not least the nameless young narrator who has been spying on Lindy Simpson since he was 11 years old.
What apparently started out as a typical school boy crush turns into for me what seemed a creepy obsession and I actually felt uncomfortable reading the thoughts and actions of a teenage boy and really spoiled the read for me. I also felt the author tried too hard and seemed to go off on wild wanderings about Hurricane Katharina and other issues which I didn't feel were very relevant to the story.
At the beginning of this novel I felt it had heaps of potential but the story dragged I was really disappointed by its conclusion.
It was the summer that everything changed>
Debut Novel by M.O. Walsh unfolds in a Baton Rouge Neighbourhood in the summer of 1989 when popular track star fifteen year old Lindy Simpson experiences a horrible crime late one evening in her neighbourhood. No one witnessed the attack and but suspicion falls on everyone not least the nameless young narrator who has been spying on Lindy Simpson since he was 11 years old.
What apparently started out as a typical school boy crush turns into for me what seemed a creepy obsession and I actually felt uncomfortable reading the thoughts and actions of a teenage boy and really spoiled the read for me. I also felt the author tried too hard and seemed to go off on wild wanderings about Hurricane Katharina and other issues which I didn't feel were very relevant to the story.
At the beginning of this novel I felt it had heaps of potential but the story dragged I was really disappointed by its conclusion.
April 28, 2015
My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh was selected by members of On the Southern Literary Trail as the post-1980 Group Read for April, 2015. This novel was nominated simultaneously by three separate Trail Members. Special thanks to them.
Walsh's debut novel is a bravura performance. This is an upcoming author to watch.
In brief, Walsh chronicles what appears the perfect world of a Baton Rouge privileged neighborhood. The adults belong to the country club. Husbands play golf. Wives play tennis. Their children attend an exclusive private school.
But a beautiful veneer covers many a fault that hides in a furniture piece beneath it. Many secrets hide behind the doors of the homes on Piney Road.
The polished luster that shines on the surface of this Louisiana lagniappe of infidelity and violence is shattered by the brutal rape of Lindy Simpson, a beautiful golden teen track star at the Perkins Private school.
Four suspects emerge, including the nameless narrator, a unique voice, that Walsh created, leaving the reader to wonder whether the key relayer of information has a shred of reliability.
This is a masterful story of family, love, loss, and the nature of friendsip. It is equally a wondrous tale of the pain of growing up and mistakes made for lack of knowledge for not having lived long enough.
For a writer so young, M.O. Walsh displays a knowledge of life and how people live it beyond his years. Read it.
Walsh's debut novel is a bravura performance. This is an upcoming author to watch.
In brief, Walsh chronicles what appears the perfect world of a Baton Rouge privileged neighborhood. The adults belong to the country club. Husbands play golf. Wives play tennis. Their children attend an exclusive private school.
But a beautiful veneer covers many a fault that hides in a furniture piece beneath it. Many secrets hide behind the doors of the homes on Piney Road.
The polished luster that shines on the surface of this Louisiana lagniappe of infidelity and violence is shattered by the brutal rape of Lindy Simpson, a beautiful golden teen track star at the Perkins Private school.
Four suspects emerge, including the nameless narrator, a unique voice, that Walsh created, leaving the reader to wonder whether the key relayer of information has a shred of reliability.
This is a masterful story of family, love, loss, and the nature of friendsip. It is equally a wondrous tale of the pain of growing up and mistakes made for lack of knowledge for not having lived long enough.
For a writer so young, M.O. Walsh displays a knowledge of life and how people live it beyond his years. Read it.
September 26, 2017
The best kind of books make you feel them. You will be reading along and gradually but surely your emotions take over. For me, My Sunshine Away is one of those books.
M.O. Walsh has written a moving story that made me contemplate how events from childhood contribute to the type of adults we become. Everyone has a history. Everyone is shaped by that history in one way or another.
It was easy to get immersed in the narrator's childhood, adolescence and occasional glimpses into his adult life. I felt like I was on Piney Creek Road. I felt the hot Louisiana summer heat. Beautifully written and highly recommended.
M.O. Walsh has written a moving story that made me contemplate how events from childhood contribute to the type of adults we become. Everyone has a history. Everyone is shaped by that history in one way or another.
It was easy to get immersed in the narrator's childhood, adolescence and occasional glimpses into his adult life. I felt like I was on Piney Creek Road. I felt the hot Louisiana summer heat. Beautifully written and highly recommended.
April 5, 2015
I finished this book late last night, with my heart racing, adrenaline pumping, unable to take my eyes off the page, and fear in my heart for what the narrator was going to reveal. It ended as it began, with beautiful writing and incredible insight into the people residing in this Baton Rouge neighborhood, and a narrator trying to make sense of his teen-age self.
It begins with the rape of a 15 year old girl, which is an unbelievable thing to process for everyone in this well-to-do, safe neighborhood, where kids run around unattended, ride their bikes to the private school they all share, and live out their childhoods innocently and without trauma. But there are things below the surface of that happy veneer. There's a psychiatrist who has horrible fights with his wife, and who takes in troubled foster children. Our unnamed narrator has divorced parents and an unhappy mother. The parents of Lindy, the bright, happy girl who was raped, have difficulties dealing with what happened to their daughter, and Lindy herself is damaged beyond thinking and tries out more and more dark ways of coping. Our narrator is a 14 year old neighbor who has loved Lindy for years, a typical teen-age boy with roaring hormones and confusion about who he is and what he thinks.
This is a brilliant first novel that is written in beautiful language, and with such wonderful insight into the emotions and fears of our characters. There are other bad things that happen to some of these people too, but there's beauty and understanding in the coping.
"Life is made up, ever increasingly, of things we cannot change." Amen.
It begins with the rape of a 15 year old girl, which is an unbelievable thing to process for everyone in this well-to-do, safe neighborhood, where kids run around unattended, ride their bikes to the private school they all share, and live out their childhoods innocently and without trauma. But there are things below the surface of that happy veneer. There's a psychiatrist who has horrible fights with his wife, and who takes in troubled foster children. Our unnamed narrator has divorced parents and an unhappy mother. The parents of Lindy, the bright, happy girl who was raped, have difficulties dealing with what happened to their daughter, and Lindy herself is damaged beyond thinking and tries out more and more dark ways of coping. Our narrator is a 14 year old neighbor who has loved Lindy for years, a typical teen-age boy with roaring hormones and confusion about who he is and what he thinks.
This is a brilliant first novel that is written in beautiful language, and with such wonderful insight into the emotions and fears of our characters. There are other bad things that happen to some of these people too, but there's beauty and understanding in the coping.
"Life is made up, ever increasingly, of things we cannot change." Amen.
August 8, 2017
Wow. It's hard to believe this is M.O. Walsh's debut novel because it's a....BOMBSHELL! The writing is phenomenal. I was hooked after the first chapter. I felt like I was right there in the story with the narrator. Such vivid and intriguing storytelling. And speaking of that narrator, I loved how halfway through the novel, I still didn't know his name, and I STILL don't know because it was never revealed. There's a reason why we don't know the narrator's name, but don't worry I won't spoil it for you.
"My Sunshine Away" is told in the past and present tense. We learn that the narrator was deeply infatuated with a girl, Lindy, who lived across the street from him growing up. In the summer of 1989, the narrator's crush is attacked and raped while bicycling home from track practice. Lindy's life is forever changed by the traumatic event. Lindy is the narrator's "dream girl" but he doesn't really know her personality/pain until the later chapters. My heart just ached for her. No arrests were made in the crime, but 4 suspects were thought to be Lindy's attacker, and the narrator is one of the alleged suspects.
This book was intense, brazen, beautiful, soulful and feral. I loved how the narrator has this creepy demeanor when he talks about his affection for Lindy. Is he a misunderstood kid or a deeply troubled kid? I love how Walsh's writing keeps you guessing until the very end. "My Sunshine Away" is a great book because every time I tried to guess what was going to happen, I was wrong again and again. I literally had no idea how the story was going to wrap up but when it did, it was well worth the wait. There's little clues dropped here and there and now that I finished it, I can see how I missed them because the clues are so subtle. NOW THIS IS A NOVEL! I am blown away by its sheer beauty and raw intensity. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!
"My Sunshine Away" is told in the past and present tense. We learn that the narrator was deeply infatuated with a girl, Lindy, who lived across the street from him growing up. In the summer of 1989, the narrator's crush is attacked and raped while bicycling home from track practice. Lindy's life is forever changed by the traumatic event. Lindy is the narrator's "dream girl" but he doesn't really know her personality/pain until the later chapters. My heart just ached for her. No arrests were made in the crime, but 4 suspects were thought to be Lindy's attacker, and the narrator is one of the alleged suspects.
This book was intense, brazen, beautiful, soulful and feral. I loved how the narrator has this creepy demeanor when he talks about his affection for Lindy. Is he a misunderstood kid or a deeply troubled kid? I love how Walsh's writing keeps you guessing until the very end. "My Sunshine Away" is a great book because every time I tried to guess what was going to happen, I was wrong again and again. I literally had no idea how the story was going to wrap up but when it did, it was well worth the wait. There's little clues dropped here and there and now that I finished it, I can see how I missed them because the clues are so subtle. NOW THIS IS A NOVEL! I am blown away by its sheer beauty and raw intensity. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!
September 28, 2016
I am a bit stunned by how much I loved this debut by Louisiana native, MO Walsh. This story of suspense orbits a certain boy - our narrator - who pines for a golden girl just a fingertip out of reach. They've grown up together in the same upscale Baton Rouge neighborhood where everyone roots for the LSU tigers, gathers for crawfish boils, and cheers for high school athletics.
It is an idyllic time in the late 80s, and kids still spend time outdoors in the woods exploring, riding bikes, and visiting in person - no texting or social media. But as teenaged boys sometimes can, our narrator gets a bit fixated on the girl. You might say he is a bit obsessed. There are binoculars involved and tree climbing. It is a harmless, but deep crush - or so he tells us.
The girl is attacked one evening, a snare set for her on her bike path by someone who knows her habits well. She is seemingly incapacitated, and authorities cannot get her to identify her attacker. Should we trust this narrator?
Beyond the suspense here, the structure made every chapter satisfying, ending with either a poignant observation or a feathery cliff hanger - nothing too sharp or jabby. Smooth. His descriptions of Louisiana summers and New Orleans are spot on. No outsider's interpretation of etouffee, thank goodness.
Walsh also treats the random bystanders in a unique way. Here's this about a piano teacher, way early in the story: "... taught private lessons during the summer, a lady so polite it is hard to imagine her even having a cameo in a story that begins this way. She wore bright floral blouses with shoulder pads. She carried folders crammed with photocopied scales and sheet music. She often wore hats. She is the innocent stuff in the background of time. Pin her up in the sky of this place. And though I often complained to my neighborhood friends that I hated these lessons, that I hated her, this was a lie." Totally loved that.
Lastly, I'm a pretty dry-eyed, objective reader, yet there are observations here on fatherhood, motherhood, and about sibling love that had me in tears. Walsh inserted these slices of tenderness while I was still on the edge of my seat in suspense and simultaneously in dread of this boy's regular errors in judgement.
If you can relate to growing up in suburbia in a quieter time or have ever felt a desperate crush as a teenager, this is going to feel like home. Tense, but home. Five stars. Added to Favorite Book shelf.
It is an idyllic time in the late 80s, and kids still spend time outdoors in the woods exploring, riding bikes, and visiting in person - no texting or social media. But as teenaged boys sometimes can, our narrator gets a bit fixated on the girl. You might say he is a bit obsessed. There are binoculars involved and tree climbing. It is a harmless, but deep crush - or so he tells us.
The girl is attacked one evening, a snare set for her on her bike path by someone who knows her habits well. She is seemingly incapacitated, and authorities cannot get her to identify her attacker. Should we trust this narrator?
Beyond the suspense here, the structure made every chapter satisfying, ending with either a poignant observation or a feathery cliff hanger - nothing too sharp or jabby. Smooth. His descriptions of Louisiana summers and New Orleans are spot on. No outsider's interpretation of etouffee, thank goodness.
Walsh also treats the random bystanders in a unique way. Here's this about a piano teacher, way early in the story: "... taught private lessons during the summer, a lady so polite it is hard to imagine her even having a cameo in a story that begins this way. She wore bright floral blouses with shoulder pads. She carried folders crammed with photocopied scales and sheet music. She often wore hats. She is the innocent stuff in the background of time. Pin her up in the sky of this place. And though I often complained to my neighborhood friends that I hated these lessons, that I hated her, this was a lie." Totally loved that.
Lastly, I'm a pretty dry-eyed, objective reader, yet there are observations here on fatherhood, motherhood, and about sibling love that had me in tears. Walsh inserted these slices of tenderness while I was still on the edge of my seat in suspense and simultaneously in dread of this boy's regular errors in judgement.
If you can relate to growing up in suburbia in a quieter time or have ever felt a desperate crush as a teenager, this is going to feel like home. Tense, but home. Five stars. Added to Favorite Book shelf.
February 12, 2018
My Sunshine Away is a coming-of-age mystery novel set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The narrator is a young boy who falls in love with his friend and neighbor, Lindy. His love is persistent throughout the transformations of identity that Lindy undergoes in the aftermath of being raped. This young boy is also dealing with other big issues: divorced parents, a neglectful father, and the death of a sibling.
The mystery in this novel is who the rapist might be. There are several unsettling characters in the book that are suspects. The narrator himself briefly appears to be a suspect. He is hiding something, but we do not know what.
I enjoyed the lush descriptions of Baton Rouge immensely: the culture, the food, the people, the nature, the impact of Andrew and Katrina. Some of the chapters that were about Baton Rouge could have been stand-alone short stories, and very good ones at that.
The book is written from adulthood, reminiscing back about 20 years, but the narrator also spends time speaking of his current life: adulthood, marriage, his wife's pregnancy. These adulthood chapters were less interesting to me. I felt that there was a comparative lack of passion, or maybe even disingenuousness, when the narrator was describing his adult life. Yes, it was nice to have the complete picture of how everyone turned out, but it felt unnecessary to me. The narrator also inserts certain facts about children who have been raped, children who have grown up with divorced parents or suffered the death of a sibling, as well as facts about the foster system. The facts felt instructive, yet were interesting.
I give this book 3 stars, well 3.5. It was well written, had great character development and dealt with some weighty coming-of-age issues. Saying that, I did not feel deeply affected by it. I would definitely categorize it more as a young adult read, and I think for the younger reader, it would be more pertinent and affective, more of a 4 star read. I also think reading about a girl's experience of rape, from the perspective of a prepubescent boy who is "in love" with her, only added distance to the horror of it.
Please see http://www.book-chatter.com/?p=125 for full review, including map, pictures, and discussion questions.
The mystery in this novel is who the rapist might be. There are several unsettling characters in the book that are suspects. The narrator himself briefly appears to be a suspect. He is hiding something, but we do not know what.
I enjoyed the lush descriptions of Baton Rouge immensely: the culture, the food, the people, the nature, the impact of Andrew and Katrina. Some of the chapters that were about Baton Rouge could have been stand-alone short stories, and very good ones at that.
The book is written from adulthood, reminiscing back about 20 years, but the narrator also spends time speaking of his current life: adulthood, marriage, his wife's pregnancy. These adulthood chapters were less interesting to me. I felt that there was a comparative lack of passion, or maybe even disingenuousness, when the narrator was describing his adult life. Yes, it was nice to have the complete picture of how everyone turned out, but it felt unnecessary to me. The narrator also inserts certain facts about children who have been raped, children who have grown up with divorced parents or suffered the death of a sibling, as well as facts about the foster system. The facts felt instructive, yet were interesting.
I give this book 3 stars, well 3.5. It was well written, had great character development and dealt with some weighty coming-of-age issues. Saying that, I did not feel deeply affected by it. I would definitely categorize it more as a young adult read, and I think for the younger reader, it would be more pertinent and affective, more of a 4 star read. I also think reading about a girl's experience of rape, from the perspective of a prepubescent boy who is "in love" with her, only added distance to the horror of it.
Please see http://www.book-chatter.com/?p=125 for full review, including map, pictures, and discussion questions.
December 14, 2016
3.75 stars
I struggle with narratives dealing with the guilt of someone whose age explains his (non)actions. Of course a 14-year-old thinks it’s all about him: it’s the nature of the beast. Yet this book seems pitch-perfect in its re-creation of how a teenage boy thinks and feels, even to the point that his obsessing got to be a bit too much for me a couple of times. It’s true too that the young person needs to realize, for his or her own benefit (as well as for those around him), that “it’s not all about you” and the narrator’s very slowly dawning realization also feels authentic.
The voyeurism, the suburban neighborhood and a narratorial choice of 'we' at one juncture reminded me of The Virgin Suicides. The pacing is skillful and the climax is tense, but I don’t think of this as either a mystery or a thriller (I mean that as a compliment). The parts that I see some Goodreaders found superfluous were my favorite sections, especially the comparison between Baton Rouge and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Not only is it an extended metaphor for the relationship of the main characters, it’s a brilliant meditation: how you interpret it may be revelatory.
Here are two quibbles and you probably should dismiss them: First, the twist of the narration (at the end) didn’t work in one instance for me. Second, the grammar-pedant within me cringed at the use, more than once, of the subjective first-person pronoun after the object of a preposition: I realize the narrator is writing informally, but he makes no other major grammatical mistakes (including using the word ‘whom’ correctly)—this kind of thing pulling me out of a story says more about me than about the novel, I'm sure.
I just discovered this novel is longlisted for the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award, more proof of the ‘particular’ -- in this case, an affluent Baton Rouge neighborhood with its share of darkness; darkness I am wont to say can be found in any neighborhood, no matter how comfortable – illuminating the ‘universal’.
I struggle with narratives dealing with the guilt of someone whose age explains his (non)actions. Of course a 14-year-old thinks it’s all about him: it’s the nature of the beast. Yet this book seems pitch-perfect in its re-creation of how a teenage boy thinks and feels, even to the point that his obsessing got to be a bit too much for me a couple of times. It’s true too that the young person needs to realize, for his or her own benefit (as well as for those around him), that “it’s not all about you” and the narrator’s very slowly dawning realization also feels authentic.
The voyeurism, the suburban neighborhood and a narratorial choice of 'we' at one juncture reminded me of The Virgin Suicides. The pacing is skillful and the climax is tense, but I don’t think of this as either a mystery or a thriller (I mean that as a compliment). The parts that I see some Goodreaders found superfluous were my favorite sections, especially the comparison between Baton Rouge and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Not only is it an extended metaphor for the relationship of the main characters, it’s a brilliant meditation: how you interpret it may be revelatory.
Here are two quibbles and you probably should dismiss them: First, the twist of the narration (at the end) didn’t work in one instance for me. Second, the grammar-pedant within me cringed at the use, more than once, of the subjective first-person pronoun after the object of a preposition: I realize the narrator is writing informally, but he makes no other major grammatical mistakes (including using the word ‘whom’ correctly)—this kind of thing pulling me out of a story says more about me than about the novel, I'm sure.
I just discovered this novel is longlisted for the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award, more proof of the ‘particular’ -- in this case, an affluent Baton Rouge neighborhood with its share of darkness; darkness I am wont to say can be found in any neighborhood, no matter how comfortable – illuminating the ‘universal’.
October 19, 2016
My Sunshine Away is a moving, suspenseful, coming-of-age novel set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the late 80s/early 90s. The author did a wonderful job creating a nostalgic feeling of time and place - mentioning events such as the Challenger explosion, the Jeffrey Dahmer case, Hurricane Katrina, and popular music of that time. It's a story about the choices we make and how they can haunt us through life.
June 14, 2018
My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh is a haunting yet beautiful tale about a tragic childhood.
This book has blown me away with how thought provoking it is! M.O. Walsh's beautiful writing style tells the tale of fifteen year old Lindy (in our narrator's point of view) and the horrors that occur in their neighborhood. Add in the setting of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the late 80s and you've got yourself the perfect coming of age story addressing some really tough issues that we are still seeing today.
This is another book that I wish would have been around in my high school years. I think this would have been perfect reading material that addresses the growth and change of a child to an adult, and the big issues in society that are still happening. M.O. Walsh made the story light hearted and fun (at times) in a setting that could have been extremely brutal.
As the book moves forward, the effects on the town and Lindy slowly unravel and the mystery of it all falls into place. The ghosts of everyone's past comes to a nice close at the end of the book, so don't worry about cliffhangers! The last few pages of the book are the perfect summary, better than anything I've ever seen before. It's a real shame I don't see this book (or eventually more) by M.O. Walsh on bookshelves at my local bookstore. This book is top tier writing!
My Sunshine Away had effects on me similar to 1984, To Kill a MockingBird and Shakespeare's best works. The book tells a story and a narrative, but has grande themes that can be picked apart. On top of that, the book feels nostalgic of what most adults had in their childhood (I can relate to talking on the phone when your parents answer it and hold it for you). The surprise of a safe neighborhood not really being all that safe. Also seeing some of the non-fictitious aspects of our world (like the Challenger and Jeffrey Dahmer) really made this book feel real.
The characters also felt like people I would have known in my childhood - nerdy kids, the "weirdos", that one girl everyone loves - they all were relatable. Seeing them change and how they ended up in adulthood was also a nice touch that helped close the story.
When I read this book, I thought it was a very soft adult novel - but apparently it's a Young Adult novel! It's a really nice read that Young Adults could handle. It has some tough themes, but nothing graphic. I'm actually even happier that this book should be on a Young Adult shelf, so those readers can get the impact of this story in their environment.
Overall, this book is an emotional, yet melancholic ride that will pull at your heartstrings and play with your emotions. It's so well developed, it's hard to believe that this is a debut novel! It feels like an expert in his craft wrote it! I highly recommend this book, and it's a definite must read! I'm sad I didn't pick this book up years ago! What a truly fantastic novel!
PS - What a stunning cover! This cover calls out to me, even though it's so simple yet so elegant! What a gem!
Five out of five stars!
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
This book has blown me away with how thought provoking it is! M.O. Walsh's beautiful writing style tells the tale of fifteen year old Lindy (in our narrator's point of view) and the horrors that occur in their neighborhood. Add in the setting of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the late 80s and you've got yourself the perfect coming of age story addressing some really tough issues that we are still seeing today.
This is another book that I wish would have been around in my high school years. I think this would have been perfect reading material that addresses the growth and change of a child to an adult, and the big issues in society that are still happening. M.O. Walsh made the story light hearted and fun (at times) in a setting that could have been extremely brutal.
As the book moves forward, the effects on the town and Lindy slowly unravel and the mystery of it all falls into place. The ghosts of everyone's past comes to a nice close at the end of the book, so don't worry about cliffhangers! The last few pages of the book are the perfect summary, better than anything I've ever seen before. It's a real shame I don't see this book (or eventually more) by M.O. Walsh on bookshelves at my local bookstore. This book is top tier writing!
My Sunshine Away had effects on me similar to 1984, To Kill a MockingBird and Shakespeare's best works. The book tells a story and a narrative, but has grande themes that can be picked apart. On top of that, the book feels nostalgic of what most adults had in their childhood (I can relate to talking on the phone when your parents answer it and hold it for you). The surprise of a safe neighborhood not really being all that safe. Also seeing some of the non-fictitious aspects of our world (like the Challenger and Jeffrey Dahmer) really made this book feel real.
The characters also felt like people I would have known in my childhood - nerdy kids, the "weirdos", that one girl everyone loves - they all were relatable. Seeing them change and how they ended up in adulthood was also a nice touch that helped close the story.
When I read this book, I thought it was a very soft adult novel - but apparently it's a Young Adult novel! It's a really nice read that Young Adults could handle. It has some tough themes, but nothing graphic. I'm actually even happier that this book should be on a Young Adult shelf, so those readers can get the impact of this story in their environment.
Overall, this book is an emotional, yet melancholic ride that will pull at your heartstrings and play with your emotions. It's so well developed, it's hard to believe that this is a debut novel! It feels like an expert in his craft wrote it! I highly recommend this book, and it's a definite must read! I'm sad I didn't pick this book up years ago! What a truly fantastic novel!
PS - What a stunning cover! This cover calls out to me, even though it's so simple yet so elegant! What a gem!
Five out of five stars!
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
May 12, 2017
"There were four suspects in the rape of Lindy Simpson, a crime that occurred directly on top of the sidewalk of Piney Creek Road, the same sidewalk our parents had once hopefully carved their initials into, years before, as residents of the first street in the Woodland Hills subdivision to have houses on each lot."
The first sentence of this novel just sucked me right in; I couldn't rest until it was finished. Even though it revolves around a crime and a mystery, what I found most interesting was the account of the author growing up, getting through his very awkward and painful teens. Always at the center of his adolescence and the novel is Lindy, his obsession. The cataclysmic aftershock of the violence perpetrated against her affects the whole neighborhood. Walsh expertly weaved different stories and moments in time to craft a beautiful tapestry. The final quarter of book came right back to the crime, and it was so gripping and more than a little creepy. Overall, the word that came to mind was grotesque as it was used to describe Southern literature written by Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner. Gritty, razor sharp but elegant. A killer summer must read!
The first sentence of this novel just sucked me right in; I couldn't rest until it was finished. Even though it revolves around a crime and a mystery, what I found most interesting was the account of the author growing up, getting through his very awkward and painful teens. Always at the center of his adolescence and the novel is Lindy, his obsession. The cataclysmic aftershock of the violence perpetrated against her affects the whole neighborhood. Walsh expertly weaved different stories and moments in time to craft a beautiful tapestry. The final quarter of book came right back to the crime, and it was so gripping and more than a little creepy. Overall, the word that came to mind was grotesque as it was used to describe Southern literature written by Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner. Gritty, razor sharp but elegant. A killer summer must read!
February 15, 2015
This is a gorgeous read.
I was a nervous wreck whilst reading it!
This novel reminded me of what it was like to be a teenager and how who we wish we were often falls short of who we actually are. Loved the setting, the lush writing, and the character study of suburban life. I liked the red herrings, the twists, and the sense of urgency and tension throughout.
LOVED.
I was a nervous wreck whilst reading it!
This novel reminded me of what it was like to be a teenager and how who we wish we were often falls short of who we actually are. Loved the setting, the lush writing, and the character study of suburban life. I liked the red herrings, the twists, and the sense of urgency and tension throughout.
LOVED.
February 19, 2015
I'd give this 3.5 stars.
In the summer of 1989, in a Baton Rouge neighborhood, Lindy Simpson was the object of many adolescent boys' fascination. She was beautiful but didn't seem to know it, a track runner who wasn't afraid to play with the boys.
"She seemed to walk that perfect line between a person you suspect you might not deserve and the prize life would be if everything turned out right."
But one night, Lindy becomes the victim of a crime, a crime that not all of the boys even understand. Many in the neighborhood are suspects, at least for a time. Understandably for Lindy, but also for the 14-year-old narrator of My Sunshine Away , the crime leaves an indelible mark on their lives.
The narrator has had a crush on Lindy for some time, and as he grew into adolescence, that crush blossomed into a combination of lust, love, and perhaps a little obsession. He desperately wants Lindy to like him the way he likes her, and changes his image, his attitude, his activities in the hopes of getting her attention, yet she remains distant, until a tragedy in his own life brings her back—sort of.
My Sunshine Away is a meditation on growing up, and how our lives, and our futures, are shaped by both incidents and people. The narrator, now an adult, is reflecting upon the events of a period of time in his life, and how those events continue to affect him. This is a story of how adulthood gives us a different perspective on the events of our childhood, and the behaviors of those around us. It's also a reflection of how youth gives us a naïveté that we're sometimes fortunate not to lose until we grow up, because it can protect us from the horrors that may surround us.
"But for every adult person you look up to in life there is trailing behind them an invisible chain gang of ghosts, all of which, as a child, you are generously spared from meeting."
I thought this book was tremendously well-written and really moving. There are elements of mystery running throughout, and M.O. Walsh does a great job making you wonder just how that thread will ultimately unfold. There's a feeling of nostalgia that pervades the book, as well as feeling powerless to control the events around you. The characters are flawed but fascinating, at times unlikeable but completely compelling.
At times I found the book meandered a little too much, particularly one lengthy portion that compared Baton Rouge to New Orleans, and I struggled to keep my focus, but Walsh's storytelling and the emotions the book provokes pulled me back. This is definitely one that will get you thinking and, for a sap like me, feeling, as well.
See all of my reviews (and other stuff) at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
In the summer of 1989, in a Baton Rouge neighborhood, Lindy Simpson was the object of many adolescent boys' fascination. She was beautiful but didn't seem to know it, a track runner who wasn't afraid to play with the boys.
"She seemed to walk that perfect line between a person you suspect you might not deserve and the prize life would be if everything turned out right."
But one night, Lindy becomes the victim of a crime, a crime that not all of the boys even understand. Many in the neighborhood are suspects, at least for a time. Understandably for Lindy, but also for the 14-year-old narrator of My Sunshine Away , the crime leaves an indelible mark on their lives.
The narrator has had a crush on Lindy for some time, and as he grew into adolescence, that crush blossomed into a combination of lust, love, and perhaps a little obsession. He desperately wants Lindy to like him the way he likes her, and changes his image, his attitude, his activities in the hopes of getting her attention, yet she remains distant, until a tragedy in his own life brings her back—sort of.
My Sunshine Away is a meditation on growing up, and how our lives, and our futures, are shaped by both incidents and people. The narrator, now an adult, is reflecting upon the events of a period of time in his life, and how those events continue to affect him. This is a story of how adulthood gives us a different perspective on the events of our childhood, and the behaviors of those around us. It's also a reflection of how youth gives us a naïveté that we're sometimes fortunate not to lose until we grow up, because it can protect us from the horrors that may surround us.
"But for every adult person you look up to in life there is trailing behind them an invisible chain gang of ghosts, all of which, as a child, you are generously spared from meeting."
I thought this book was tremendously well-written and really moving. There are elements of mystery running throughout, and M.O. Walsh does a great job making you wonder just how that thread will ultimately unfold. There's a feeling of nostalgia that pervades the book, as well as feeling powerless to control the events around you. The characters are flawed but fascinating, at times unlikeable but completely compelling.
At times I found the book meandered a little too much, particularly one lengthy portion that compared Baton Rouge to New Orleans, and I struggled to keep my focus, but Walsh's storytelling and the emotions the book provokes pulled me back. This is definitely one that will get you thinking and, for a sap like me, feeling, as well.
See all of my reviews (and other stuff) at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
March 11, 2015
I haven't finished this book yet...(I'm at 52%) but I have to say how frustrated I am by it. I'll finish it because I'm OCD like that, not because I care one way or another. As far as I'm concerned, the only way I'd find this book interesting is if Lindy was attacked by Colonel Mustard in the study with the candlestick. It's obvious the writer is talented, but this book reminds me of a large home with a lot of pretty rooms that have no common theme. For instance, he goes out of his way to describe Louisiana and it's inhabitants, but then in the following chapters, the Louisiana backdrop is forgotten in favor of pushing through various characters (who speak without any colloquial flavor) and back stories that don't really add anything (as far as I can tell) to the story. I've just gotten to the section where the narrator describes seeing someone on his street throw a rock into a window and then mentioning that something like that never happens -- when just chapters before, he described several shady characters that did criminal stuff like that all the time...so it's not consistent and it's getting on my nerves. Plus the narrator is a turd. But who knows, maybe I'll change my mind once I finish the thing.
PS this is also proof that marketing is everything. I've read tons of books that didn't get half the media circle jerk this book did but were a million times better. Oh well, tis the age we live in.
Update
Okay I finished it. He did add more about Louisiana but I still thought it sucked. Filler-ific.
PS this is also proof that marketing is everything. I've read tons of books that didn't get half the media circle jerk this book did but were a million times better. Oh well, tis the age we live in.
Update
Okay I finished it. He did add more about Louisiana but I still thought it sucked. Filler-ific.
April 11, 2015
This narrator worked for me. He may be unreliable but he kept me glued to his version of his story. It was suspenseful and intense. The book dragged a little in the middle but the author nicely tied up the ending of this book. Very well done! Very much enjoyed and would highly recommend.
April 13, 2015
Finished in 32 hours,a testament in itself! A book that immediately delves into touchy subjects much the same way Lolita does and has a voice that reminds me of Walker Percy. This book is uncomfortably honest, allowing us to contrast dangerous fantasy and youthful action. The link between love and obsession is here along with guilt conscious voyeurism and the torturous indecision of a teenager coming of age. God, this is like two or three classics in one. I'm still amazed the author could weave such a tale and come through the ending gracefully. The amount of growth and development of the narrator as he reaches the conclusion was the saving grace for me. Any book that handles touchy subjects and ends with positive and valuable messages has my approval, just as I am quick to demean any that are pandering and are nothing but shock value. A very good book, I love these selections from The Trail.
March 15, 2015
This story takes place in the eighties,in Louisiana.The story is told through the eyes and experiences of a young man. When a tragic event occurs,it touches the lives of all that reside in the upscale neighborhood in Baton Rougue.
I was anticipating sweltering days,long hot nights,sweet tea, crawfish,hushpuppies,bougainvillea covered porches and trees swathed in Spanish moss. A southern coming of age story.
My expectations were too high. This book became a meandering foray into a boys obsession with a girl.
I began to wade through the story at about 30%,hoping that the proverbial rabbit was going to be pulled out of the hat and this book would magically become interesting,didn't occur.
This book and writing were lackluster at best. Very disappointing. Nothing new or fresh.
I was anticipating sweltering days,long hot nights,sweet tea, crawfish,hushpuppies,bougainvillea covered porches and trees swathed in Spanish moss. A southern coming of age story.
My expectations were too high. This book became a meandering foray into a boys obsession with a girl.
I began to wade through the story at about 30%,hoping that the proverbial rabbit was going to be pulled out of the hat and this book would magically become interesting,didn't occur.
This book and writing were lackluster at best. Very disappointing. Nothing new or fresh.
March 15, 2015
This novel will definitely be on the list of the top novels of 2015. My Sunshine Away is an incredible read. It takes place in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s in Baton Rouge Louisiana. A man who was 14 in the summer of 1989 when his neighbor, Lindy, was raped narrates the novel. What I found incredibly intriguing is that the narrator hints that he could be unreliable. Generally when authors use unreliable narrators, it’s so obvious because the character is almost straight out crazy. Walsh’s narrator is honest yet provides clues which makes the reader wonder what’s missing in his story.
It’s a coming of age story with a mystery. Who did rape Lindy? Walsh’s writing is impeccable. His timing is perfect. The reader is drawn into the lives of the families and the neighborhood. The reader feels the heartache of Lindy and her family; the pubescent aches and follies of teens. It’s a great read. I highly recommend this novel as a must read for 2015.
It’s a coming of age story with a mystery. Who did rape Lindy? Walsh’s writing is impeccable. His timing is perfect. The reader is drawn into the lives of the families and the neighborhood. The reader feels the heartache of Lindy and her family; the pubescent aches and follies of teens. It’s a great read. I highly recommend this novel as a must read for 2015.
June 8, 2018
I think this has been one of my better reading experiences of the #whodunitbymail book swap that was organized in Litsy. It has quality, suspenseful writing, a questionable narrator, and an interesting setting (Baton Rouge, not New Orleans.) What I loved is the way the author kept me turning page after page, not sure I wanted to know more about what was going on inside the head of my teenage boy narrator or not! When one of his neighbors in suburbia is raped, a neighbor who he has a major crush on, the entire community is turned upside down.
It's not quite five stars for me because I feel like there were important characters that we don't learn enough about, and I wasn't sure I liked the ending (I can't explain why without spoiling.)
But overall better than I would have expected, after all I had seen this book around a bunch but never picked it up. I look forward to the author's next book.
It's not quite five stars for me because I feel like there were important characters that we don't learn enough about, and I wasn't sure I liked the ending (I can't explain why without spoiling.)
But overall better than I would have expected, after all I had seen this book around a bunch but never picked it up. I look forward to the author's next book.
September 1, 2017
My Sunshine Away, by M.O. Walsh, is set in the late 80's/early 90's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The book begins with "There were four suspects in the rape of Lindy Simpson....." and the narrator just happens to be one of them. The story is narrated by an unnamed man who tells of his childhood and teenage years along with his obsession of Lindy.
It was very satisfying to read this story from a male point of view. An interesting storyline that weaves together a coming of age story with a crime/thriller that spans over several years.
A wonderfully written debut novel.
The book begins with "There were four suspects in the rape of Lindy Simpson....." and the narrator just happens to be one of them. The story is narrated by an unnamed man who tells of his childhood and teenage years along with his obsession of Lindy.
It was very satisfying to read this story from a male point of view. An interesting storyline that weaves together a coming of age story with a crime/thriller that spans over several years.
A wonderfully written debut novel.
April 17, 2015
Our unnamed narrator tells the story of his teenage years, when the rape of a young girl named Lindy sent shockwaves through his considerably safe neighborhood in Baton Rouge. And so we have a crime, and neighbors who start to wonder how well they know each other after all. There are plenty of suspects to go around, and it doesn't help that our narrator has had a long standing obsession with the cute girl across the street. I loved the way this story was told , as a coming of age book with all of the emotions and insecurities of a teenager, but also with the wisdom of the now grown man. 5 stars
May 18, 2015
Actually 3.5 but rating it 4 due to the writing..however many times the author would venture off onto other topics that really had nothing to do with the main story... Kind of a let down as I was really anxious to read this book.
April 13, 2017
Walsh's debut novel, set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the late 1980's/early 1990's is a beautifully written story of time and place. Told with both suspense and insight from the view of our unnamed narrator who unfolds events from the summer of 1989 when his 15-year-old neighbor Lindy is brutally raped. He tells us this story from 20 years after, as he pieces the events of those few years together from his memories which he tells us are somewhat blurred, but squarely fall into "before the rape" and "after the rape".
In his telling, I could see and feel the neighborhood - the heat, the kids everywhere, the adults, the things hidden inside houses, the things visible. Walsh particularly gets right the affect of both mundane and horrible events on the families and individuals in this upper middle class neighborhood. We gain access to the mind of a teenager - his hopes, desires, needs and obsessions - another thing that Walsh writes with great insight and lack of judgment. And we have the opportunity to see how where he grew up and the events of his teenage years affected the man he is today.
There were passages that took my breath away, there were times I felt I was racing to the next chapter to find out more about what really happened that hot summer night that Lindy was raped and what was really going on with both the teens and adults in that neighborhood. At the same time there were passages that felt superfluous, like the part about Hurricane Katrina. And for some reason the ending left me less satisfied than I expected to be.
But those are my only nit-picks, and I highly recommend this book. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Kirby Heybourne (the voice of Nick in Gone Girl). He was a perfect choice for My Sunshine Away.
In his telling, I could see and feel the neighborhood - the heat, the kids everywhere, the adults, the things hidden inside houses, the things visible. Walsh particularly gets right the affect of both mundane and horrible events on the families and individuals in this upper middle class neighborhood. We gain access to the mind of a teenager - his hopes, desires, needs and obsessions - another thing that Walsh writes with great insight and lack of judgment. And we have the opportunity to see how where he grew up and the events of his teenage years affected the man he is today.
There were passages that took my breath away, there were times I felt I was racing to the next chapter to find out more about what really happened that hot summer night that Lindy was raped and what was really going on with both the teens and adults in that neighborhood. At the same time there were passages that felt superfluous, like the part about Hurricane Katrina. And for some reason the ending left me less satisfied than I expected to be.
But those are my only nit-picks, and I highly recommend this book. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Kirby Heybourne (the voice of Nick in Gone Girl). He was a perfect choice for My Sunshine Away.
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