Maggie Mitchell

Carly May ist sauer auf die Stiefmutter. Daher steigt sie bei einem Fremden in den Wagen. Später steigt auch noch Lois dazu. Sie hat keine Bedenken, denn es sitzt ja schon ein Mädchen im Auto. Was bewegt zwei Mädchen dazu, unabhängig voneinander in den Wagen eines Fremden zu steigen? Sie sind ja bereits 12 Jahre alt und ihnen müsste das Risiko bewusst sein. Der Mann bringt sie zu einer einsamen Hütte im Wald und lässt ihnen dort freie Bewegung. Er fasst sie nicht an und droht ihnen nicht. Trotzdem versuchen die Mädchen nie zu flüchten. Sie freunden sich an. Nach zwei Monaten werden sie gefunden und gehen zurück zu den Eltern. Der Kontakt der beiden wird unterbunden.
Fast zwanzig Jahre später treffen sie sich wieder. Die Literaturprofessorin Lois hat ihre unter einem Pseudonym ein Buch über ihre Geschichte geschrieben. Das Buch soll verfilmt werden und Carly May kommt so an das Drehbuch und erkennt die Geschichte. Sie versucht Lois aufzuspüren.
Die Geschichte wird abwechselnd aus der Perspektive von Carly May und Lois erzählt. Das aber macht die Sache nicht spannender, denn vieles wird ungemein detailreich erzählt. Die Psyche der beiden Frauen wurde zwar betrachtet, aber als Psychothriller würde ich das Buch nicht bezeichnen.
Die Charaktere sind mir nicht besonders sympathisch. Ihr Handeln in der Kindheit war mir schon nicht verständlich und das änderte sich auch nicht. Ich hatte den Eindruck, dass sich Carly May als Nabel der Welt sah. Später kämpft sie mit ihrem Alkoholproblem. Lois wird von dem Studenten Sean bedrängt, der mehr über ihre Geschichte wissen will.
Ich hatte mir mehr von diesem Buch erwartet. Den Schreibstil empfand ich als langatmig und dadurch wurde ich nicht gefesselt. Alles wirkt auf mich düster und bedrückend. Erst gegen Ende wurde es etwas spannender.
Das Buch hat mich nicht überzeugt.… (altro)

This is the type of book I would recommend just so that I can talk about it with someone. There are so many interesting topics the book explores. The writing is fantastic, it's smooth and has a natural cadence to it that makes you not want to stop reading.

The concept of being connected to someone because of a shared experience is taken to an extreme, which I absolutely loved. Two girls, abducted during a summer when they were 12, forced to live in a remote cabin with a man trying to preserve purity and childhood. There's a great reference to Robert Browning poem - Porphyria's Lover. The concept of loving someone/something so much, you would rather kill it than let it go.

Outside of the psychological explorations, there were some things I wish were fleshed out more. The character of Sean should have either been more involved or less. He's a character who is there to progress the plot and is a pathetic one at that.

Not a read for everyone, but if you want a break from plots and dive a little bit more into taboo subjects, pick it up!… (altro)

This was a great idea for a novel. Two girls are abducted and kept in a remote cabin for over a month. They are eventually 'rescued' by the authorities and return to their families to resume their lives. It's a really interesting idea but for me it just didn't work. I found the book unrealistic and tiresome. Zed was an interesting character but I didn't feel we found out enough about him. I didn't particular warm to either Carly-May or Lois and I really wasn't sure why Sean was in the book at all. I did persevere and finish it and it did get a little more pace towards the end but I'm afraid it just wasn't for me.… (altro)

This is not your ordinary abduction tale. The truth mingles with re-invention and obfuscation. ‘Pretty Is’ is a promising debut by Maggie Mitchell, a study in memory, an examination of our ability to move on from difficult experiences, and how today’s celebrity culture makes it impossible to avoid the past.
Two 12-year old girls – Louis and Carly May - go missing in separate incidents, they are assumed dead. This is the story of their abduction, their life with their abductor Zed, and more importantly their life afterwards. But is what we are reading the true story, a lie, an embroidered version of what happened, or total fiction?
The story of the girls is told in tandem with what is happening to the adult women today. Both girls tried to move on but inevitably they felt cut off from everyone else so, as adults, they re-invented their pasts, their names, their identities. And so, page by page, the true story of what happened to Lois and Carly May is told. Or is it? Which of the girls is the most reliable story-teller?
Carly May becomes actress Chloe Savage, Lois is a university lecturer but also writes novels under a pseudonym. Both are hiding from the cult of celebrity enabled by the internet’s ability to archive old news, true news, mis-reported news.
Things hot-up when Lois writes a thinly-veiled fictionalised account of their abduction. The novel is made into a film, inevitably Carly May is cast as a detective. The film brings the two women together for the first time and, as well as facing the after effects of their abduction, they must deal with a stalker, Sean, a student too interested in Lois’s background.
Some questions are left unanswered. The motivations of Zed in particular are sketchy. And although there is no doubting the connection forged between the two 12-year old girls, they do seem to accept their abduction rather apathetically.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/… (altro)