Book: If You Find Me

If You Find Me

by Emily Murdoch

Length: 245 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Checked out from the public library

How I heard about it: my awesome YAL conference

Basic Premise: Carey doesn't remember much before her meth-addict mother dragged her and her baby sister into the woods to live in a camper, completely cut off from civilization.  When she and her sister are found, after nearly a decade of living on their own in the woods, Carey is returned to her father, who she always believed had run out on them.  But no matter what he and his new wife do to prove to Carey that they love her, there is no way they would if they knew The Secret.

My Take: 6.5 out of 10 (scale here)

I thought this was one of those books with great potential.  It dealt with some pretty heavy stuff - this girl's mother was PSYCHO.  She would leave for months at a time, and in the winter when it was bitter cold, she would only ocassionally remember to bring them food, so they had to learn to hunt squirrel and rabbit to eat, and she would do just about anything for money or meth, including selling her daughters to the highest bidder.  So by the time this girl was found, she had been exposed to more than most adults.  That was serious.  But there were parts, like the exaggerated and immature step-sister and the hunkiest boy in school who happened to be attracted to her INSTEAD of the step-sister, which made the novel feel like a superficial teenage drama.  I didn't feel like those moments meshed well.  I also was not a huge fan of the writing style.  The language and word usage are similar to Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, but without the poetic momentum.  I found myself skimming instead of reading - which I NEVER do.  I am a read-every-single-word-on-the-page reader.

Like nearly all the books I've read this summer, it is not a book to recommend to my kids at school.