T. Greenwood (1)

Rust & Stardust A Novel by T. Greenwood has kept me up way past my bed time considering I work tomorrow. St Martin press you have put out some great books this summer by some amazing people so thank you for that. This has to be one of the most gripping true crime novels I have read this year so again thank you. Rust & Stardust... where do I begin? Oh my gosh 5 huge gut wrenching and beautiful stars!! You will cry and it will be those leave me alone ugly cries that not many books are able to bring out of me. The only thing I didn’t like about this book is that it is over. I have to say this is the first book I have read by this author but it will not be the last. Now on to the story. Greenwood tells a disturbing and heart-breaking story of Sally Horner and her abductor Frank LaSalle. The novels starts off in 1948 with Sally stealing a notebook from Woolworth's in order to impress her friends. Sally is approached by a man outside the store, claiming to be an FBI agent who says he is going to save Sally from prison due to her stealing. The book is then spanned over the two years that this little girl is tormented by this monster. Across many state lines and so many people know something is wrong and do nothing or realize too late that they should do something. This book is so beautifully written that you cannot put it down. I will say that this book touches on some dark subject is not for the faint of heart. The ending is heart breaking and the chapters are told by each family member which makes you feel for cry with everyone involved. 5 stars all the way go get it NOW!
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For most of this novel I found myself enjoying the flash backs much more than the front story. The flashbacks dealt with the narrator falling in love and marrying his childhood sweetheart whereas the front story dealt with the narrator meeting a pregnant 16 year old African American girl and taking her in to his home. It just seemed a bit implausible to me. But as the novel progressed and the flashbacks got closer and closer to the present an interesting plot twist made everything fall into place very nicely.… (mehr)

I don't know. I thought about not rating this because I didn't feel entirely comfortable rating it since the book made me so uncomfortable.

But maybe I've been reading too much literary fiction recently (or at least segments thereof) but I found myself wondering what the point of this was? Why? What's the greater meaning? Does this shed any light, provide any insights, into anyone? It definitely was sad, and definitely made me uncomfortable, but often the narration jumping felt choppy and gimmicky, ways to show more perspective without making the readers work for it. I wanted more of Sue, even though Al was my favourite character--why was it the man? I wanted more history--the only way we knew this was the late 1940s was a rotary phone and two characters coming back from war. Does that not have a bigger impact, especially on Russell?

And I totally thought from like 20% in that she was going to commit suicide with the gun, so.

I don't know.… (mehr)