Friday, October 14, 2011

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought by a tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more then her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

5 comments:

  1. I'm only a couple chapters into this book and it is so good already! It gives you just enough background information that you understand the people and what's happening; and it's not said in a way that it's boring to read. Then it gets right to the point of the story and dives into the exciting things that happen. I really like how this author has a way of talking about the past and present that flows easy. The book is from a seven-year-old girls point of view and she doesn't talk at all. It's really interesting to be put into her mind to hear all that she is thinking, but then seeing what she's doing at the same time. What I really like about this book is that I've never come across one like it before, where the main character doesn't talk...at all.

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  2. Do you like the writing style and why?

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  3. I do like the writing style because there's always a slight suspence to what's going on. The author words it in a way that you don't know what's going to happen until it actually happens. I also like how she would hint at what made the girl stop talking and stretches out that suspence through the whole story. I didn't really like the ending of the book though because even though everything ends up okay, it is a little sad still.

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  4. It's pretty interesting, when I started reading the post it seemed like Calli was the main character, then it was Petra, then its Petras dad. IS there multiple main characters?

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  5. Calli is the main character, but from what the back of the book says, it does look like there are multiple main characters. It really focuses on Calli and her family, but other people are brought in too.

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