The first novel that I tackled on New Year's Day was The Year of the Fog by Michelle Richmond. I was attracted to the book by several of the critic lines on the cover. The lines describe the book as "gripping, compulsively readable, and grade: A." But the clencher was discovered on the top of the back cover: A Kirkus Reviews "Top Picks For Reading Groups.
Abby Mason, a photographer, is walking on a beach in San Francisco with her fiance's (Jake) six-year old daughter when she becomes distracted by a dead seal pup. In the twenty seconds she is consumed, Emma goes missing.
Abby, crumbling under life-crippling guilt, realizes that the key to find Abby is reconstructing the day in her memory and never giving up hope. Jake doubts her abilities and choses to believe the police department's grim statistics about abducted children.
Abby never gives up on trying to find Emma, on reconstructing her memory of the day, and on putting her relationship with Jake back together. Will she ever find young Emma? I will never tell.
My Criticisms
The novel is incredibly slow. The story is slow to develop, and at times I could see where readers would ant to give up on the novel. But the days would move slowly after having a child abducted, and this gives us an accurate account of that time.
I was a little disappointed by the reaction of Jake, but again once placing myself in that situation, I realized that Jake's reactions are spot on. I would not expect anything more from him.
Overall
I think that this is a very good spohomore novel from Michelle Richmond and worthy of a couple of hours of your time. Maybe read from a beach chair, under an umbrella, sipping a Mai Tai.
No comments:
Post a Comment