If You Find Me

This book is absolutely brilliant and haunting.

Read it.

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What an utterly gorgeous and heartbreaking story. Apparently If You Find Me is a debut novel, but I'll tell you now that it doesn't read like one. Emily Murdoch writes like a seasoned professional. This story broke me, and put me back together in an entirely different configuration. Pure love is all I have for this book.

Carey was such a strongly written character. A girl who has aged well beyond her years. She's wounded, to be sure, but what really broke me was how solidly she stood despite everything. She didn't fall apart. However, Carey's need to nurture her sister also kept her from becoming stone hearted. This is a girl who isn't broken, but isn't hardened either. She's the perfect balance between the two, and it's beautiful thing.

In fact, all the characters had such depth that I felt like I was a part of their lives. This is the story of a family who is slowly starting to piece itself together. Of a girl who has to battle between the life she knew, and the new one she is handed. Of love so wide, and so deep, that it knows no bounds. Everything about this story spoke to me. It took my heart in its vice grip, and I let it. Watching Carey's defenses slowly melt away, watching as she realized her worth, it took my breath away.

I could gush for ages about the simple, yet almost poetic writing. About the way that this book is an effortless read, despite the content. I could, but it's better to let you experience it for yourself though. This book broke my heart in the best way possible. I love stories that do that. I love this one. Read If You Find Me.

I will carry this book around in my heart for a long time. This is not a story about child abuse, it is instead a story about what happens after the rescue. The (re)acclimation to a society that the girls have been removed from for many years, the idea of becoming a new person while dragging the weight of of who you used to be with you into this new world. I HIGHLY recommend it for fans of Jo Knowles, Jeanette Walls, etc. It is a survival story. It will rip your heart out, but Carey's strength is so amazing that you cannot help but cheer. Great writing, great characters. I could have done with a little more resolution (and I can't get into it, because it would be spoilery). And while Joelle should go down as one of the worst mothers in fiction history, the setting of this story (The Hundred Acre Woods) is what really, really makes it. There is some (accidental?) foreshadowing that doesn't lead anywhere, and that had me worried for no reason.
Overall, a tough and well written read. I'm not sure how it would fly in my Teen Book Clubs, but the discussions it would spawn would be interesting.