October 29, 2010

Girl, Stolen - April Henry








Girl, Stolen (Christy Ottaviano Books)Young Adult
Pages: 224
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Release Date: September 28, 2010

Sixteen year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of a car while her mom fills her prescription at the pharmacy. Before Cheyenne realizes what's happening, their car is being stolen--with her inside! Griffin hadn’t meant to kidnap Cheyenne, all he needed to do was steal a car for the others. But once Griffin's dad finds out that Cheyenne’s father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes—now there’s a reason to keep her. What Griffin doesn’t know is that Cheyenne is not only sick with pneumonia, she is blind. How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare, and if she does, at what price?

I had a problem with the distant third person used to tell the story. It's a tale about a blind girl who is mistakenly kidnapped by a young boy who wanted to steal the car to please his father. I loved the way it explores blindness and gives you a peak into they way blind people live. That part of the book was seriously fascinating. But unfortunately, the characters lacked depth, the plot was somewhat predictable and the writing made an otherwise suspenseful book lose a bit of it's pace. I wanted to feel the story, connect with Cheyenne in some level, and be surprised by the things that happened, but that just didn't happen. The premise of the story is good, and I had never read about blindness before, so that kept me interested.

I kind of enjoyed the alternate POVs, but I feel that the storytelling lacked personalty. A few times I wasn't sure if I was reading Cheyenne or Griffin and had to go check. Even though the ending was satisfying, I felt like, really? That's it? So yep, I was a little disappointed on that part too.

I wish I had liked this one a little more, but I'm still very glad I read it because now I want to read more about blind people and their unique way of living.


3 comments:

  1. I agree with you! I had the same issue with the characters, predictability, and the ending. But I did really enjoy it. But I have to admit, the one thing that did shock me was the two deaths at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was highly anticipating reading this book, I'm so sorry to hear that it was lackluster for you. I prefer stories told in first person, so that might be a bit of a drawback for me, but I think I'll still give this one a chance when I finally get through my towering TBR. Thanks for the honest review!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I understand what you mean; I recently read a book similar with the way the story is told. I don't like third person because it's hard to connect with the MC. It's too bad about this one. But maybe I'll give it a try. Thanks for your review!

    ReplyDelete

Say something...