Addie Braver

by Eric T. Bergman

Her whole life, rebellious fifteen year-old Adeline Pearson has fought to protect two things: her younger brother, Billy and the treasured memory of their dead father, Will Travers. Neither task has ever been easy. Always standing in Addie's way have been two people-her long-suffering mother, Anna and their alcoholic step-father, Jake. By the summer of 1977, Addie's battles with her step-father have taken a toll on the Pearson family. Desperate to finally be free of him, she hatches a daring plan to get Jake out of their lives for good. Failure will surely make life worse for the determined Addie so she enlists her brother, confident that success will snap their mother out of her weary acceptance of Jake's self-destructive ways. Set in the small town of Lost Elm, Minnesota, Addie Braver is the story of addiction, redemption and loss-of one family's harrowing and heroic journey to brave all three without completely falling apart.

290 pages, Paperback

Published February 25, 2019

Reviews

[Cyrus S]

This book is good for readers who like books about challenges or obstacles and how the character gets around them. After each chapter it leaves you wanting to read what happens next. This book teaches the reader a few life lessons.

[Colleen Spillers]

I really loved this book. I found the story line engaging and interesting. I liked how Addie would write letters to her deceased father to tie him in as a main character and a way to reveal more story line in an interesting fashion.

The setting brings me back to summers of my childhood of riding bikes, hanging out, worrying about family and friendships. Being a native Minnesotan, it is always great to know many locations written about in the book, too.

I loved how the characters developed and changed over the course of the book. There were times I was hoping for some reconciliation between Addie and Jake. And I'm still debating on my feelings over the ending, but I won't spoil that.

Overall, I found this to be an fabulous debut novel for Eric! Nice work. If you are thinking of reading it, definitely grab a copy!

[Angela]

Addie Braver is the main character and a wonderful main character she is. However, the author created several other compelling characters that produced emotions in the storyline as well. The secondary characters such as Billy and Jake are engaging along with so many other salt of the earth personalities. While the book took a little while to get into, by the second half, I did not want to put it down. Taken by surprise a couple of times, my heart skipped a few beats with how the story turned out. Different levels of empathy move through me as I keep thinking about the characters. The book is definitely worth a plane ride to read which is where I read most of the book. Well Done, Eric, for your first book.

[Randy Bragge]

I grew up in the area this book is set in. The author describes the setting well enough that I was able to see things as they were back then. I would have liked to see more written about supporting characters in the book. I felt the book ended too soon as it was most interesting towards the end.

[Mushroom Mama]

Good book

This is an excellent young adult book. I was a bit disappointed in the ending. Would have given it a four star rating if the author could have included some of the other small tons in the area.

[Tessa]

It's as if this author decided he wanted to stuff every possible issue into a single novel and this was the result. Nothing is given enough page time to be fully developed and every few chapters some new element is added to the story. This was a chore to read.

[Carson]

It is the 21st century bible. It is amazing. it is dad.
thank you Eric Bergman

[Nick P]

This is the best book I have read and will ever read. In the middle school, this might as well be the a book of warship.