Scan barcode
judithdcollins's review
5.0
Talented Amy Hatvany returns following (2014) Safe with Me landing on my Top Books of 2014 List with another complex, emotional, and riveting novel, SOMEWHERE OUT THERE. A gripping page-turner.
“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” –Cynthia Occelli
Amy’s sixth book is a powerful tale of a mother’s love—crossing generations, from biological to adopted mother---and the fallout, two sisters separated at a young age. One, adopted; now a mother of two, and her older sister, never adopted and lost in the system; endless foster and group homes--spending a lifetime waiting for her mother to return for her.
Jennifer is a desperate mother. Her girls: Brook, four- years- old, and Natalie, only six months, by two different fathers. They have no place to go. She is out of friends, family, and favors. She does not have enough gas to keep driving. Every cell of her body is telling her to get out, and run. Pretend the last five years never happened. But she can’t. She has the girls. If not, she would be free.
She had fought so hard to keep them. Her own mother, who wanted her to have an abortion. No, she would be a good mother. Then Brooke’s father gone. No education. No money for daycare to work. No family. A car serving as home for the last three plus years. Begging on the streets. A hungry baby.
A four-year-old who deserves better. She had to leave them in the car while the baby slept, for a few minutes, so she could slip inside the market to get a few things…and (take) a few, in order to keep her babies from starving. Survival.
The unthinkable. She gets caught. Her fourth count of petty theft. What about her girls? Jennifer would have to do time. She loves them desperately, but she cannot do this. She cries for them. Her heart is ripped apart. How can she go on without her girls?
Signing away her rights. A battle of tug-and-war rages inside of her, agonizing between what she wants and what she knows is right. She had to think it wasn’t about her. It was about her babies. About giving them a good home, the kind of life she could not provide. She had done her best and it wasn’t good enough. Maybe they would be better off without her. Someone will adopt them and raise the two girls together.
Flashing back and forth, we hear the voices of Jennifer, Natalie, and Brooke. Now thirty-five years later.
Natalie is now grown, adopted, a great education, a former lawyer, a nice home, and married with two children of her own. She now has her own catering business. She knows she was adopted; however, her adopted mom was very sensitive, so she curbed the urge to find her biological mother. She had no clue she had a sister. Until now.
Her older sister, Brooke was not so fortunate. Your heart goes out to her. She had a difficult time in foster care and group homes. Separated from her baby sister, and a mother who deserted her. Now, she is single, hardworking, a job waiting tables, and dating a married man. She has lived keeping her emotions at a distance. Does not allow anyone to get close. Torn with a decision of her own, she does not want history to repeat itself.
When Natalie’s children start talking about family trees, she decides it is time to find her biological mother. Why did her mother leave her? Then she discovers she has a sister. She has to find her sister.
However, old wounds go deep. Lives cannot go back to the same. There are unrealistic expectations. Sometimes love is not outward. Sacrifices have to be made for others. Sometimes we have to break and crack, in order for the light to get in.
Can the notes and the letters provide the girls an explanation—giving them the truth, as imperfect, ugly, and unfair as it could be? Sometimes this is all there is. A way to forgive yourself and let go of the past.
What a poignant story! SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, is an ideal choice for book clubs and further discussions. Similar to Jodi Picoult, Hatvany is never afraid to tackle controversial issues and delve deep into human lives, relationships, tough decisions, and family. Thought-provoking; does our childhood experiences define us as adults?
Hatvany's character development is superb! Hoping we will see more of these three—the characters are too good-- to say good-bye.
A special thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
JDCMustReadBooks
“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” –Cynthia Occelli
Amy’s sixth book is a powerful tale of a mother’s love—crossing generations, from biological to adopted mother---and the fallout, two sisters separated at a young age. One, adopted; now a mother of two, and her older sister, never adopted and lost in the system; endless foster and group homes--spending a lifetime waiting for her mother to return for her.
Jennifer is a desperate mother. Her girls: Brook, four- years- old, and Natalie, only six months, by two different fathers. They have no place to go. She is out of friends, family, and favors. She does not have enough gas to keep driving. Every cell of her body is telling her to get out, and run. Pretend the last five years never happened. But she can’t. She has the girls. If not, she would be free.
She had fought so hard to keep them. Her own mother, who wanted her to have an abortion. No, she would be a good mother. Then Brooke’s father gone. No education. No money for daycare to work. No family. A car serving as home for the last three plus years. Begging on the streets. A hungry baby.
A four-year-old who deserves better. She had to leave them in the car while the baby slept, for a few minutes, so she could slip inside the market to get a few things…and (take) a few, in order to keep her babies from starving. Survival.
The unthinkable. She gets caught. Her fourth count of petty theft. What about her girls? Jennifer would have to do time. She loves them desperately, but she cannot do this. She cries for them. Her heart is ripped apart. How can she go on without her girls?
Signing away her rights. A battle of tug-and-war rages inside of her, agonizing between what she wants and what she knows is right. She had to think it wasn’t about her. It was about her babies. About giving them a good home, the kind of life she could not provide. She had done her best and it wasn’t good enough. Maybe they would be better off without her. Someone will adopt them and raise the two girls together.
Flashing back and forth, we hear the voices of Jennifer, Natalie, and Brooke. Now thirty-five years later.
Natalie is now grown, adopted, a great education, a former lawyer, a nice home, and married with two children of her own. She now has her own catering business. She knows she was adopted; however, her adopted mom was very sensitive, so she curbed the urge to find her biological mother. She had no clue she had a sister. Until now.
Her older sister, Brooke was not so fortunate. Your heart goes out to her. She had a difficult time in foster care and group homes. Separated from her baby sister, and a mother who deserted her. Now, she is single, hardworking, a job waiting tables, and dating a married man. She has lived keeping her emotions at a distance. Does not allow anyone to get close. Torn with a decision of her own, she does not want history to repeat itself.
When Natalie’s children start talking about family trees, she decides it is time to find her biological mother. Why did her mother leave her? Then she discovers she has a sister. She has to find her sister.
However, old wounds go deep. Lives cannot go back to the same. There are unrealistic expectations. Sometimes love is not outward. Sacrifices have to be made for others. Sometimes we have to break and crack, in order for the light to get in.
Can the notes and the letters provide the girls an explanation—giving them the truth, as imperfect, ugly, and unfair as it could be? Sometimes this is all there is. A way to forgive yourself and let go of the past.
What a poignant story! SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, is an ideal choice for book clubs and further discussions. Similar to Jodi Picoult, Hatvany is never afraid to tackle controversial issues and delve deep into human lives, relationships, tough decisions, and family. Thought-provoking; does our childhood experiences define us as adults?
Hatvany's character development is superb! Hoping we will see more of these three—the characters are too good-- to say good-bye.
A special thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
JDCMustReadBooks
greenmachine31's review
4.0
Touching story. I really liked the character development of all three characters.
blogginboutbooks's review
4.0
I'm an adoptive mom, so I'm always up for books about adoption and foster care and the way people's lives are affected by both. I've read dozens of books like SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, so I can say with authority that it doesn't bring anything fresh or new to the genre. Still, the book is poignant, compelling, and touching. The characters aren't anything special, but they are sympathetic and likable. I didn't love the novel's ending, although it's realistic. Overall, though, I enjoyed this book.
bookslifeandeverythingnice's review
4.0
Another great novel by Amy Hatvany! Somewhere Out There takes us through the journey of families reuniting. Brooke and Natalie are two sisters that grew up separately and didn’t know the other existed. They were given up by their mother at a young age, and then separated by the foster care system. Through the novel we learn more about the difficulties this caused each girl, now adult, and the joy & struggles of reuniting with family. Amy Hatvany is great at delving into and really exploring the relationships within the novel. Throughout the book many tough questions are brought up using the content as a jumping off point. As a reader we think about what it means to be a parent. How do you truly care for your child? How do you know what’s best for them? I also thought about the effects of nature vs. nurture has on a child’s upbringing. The book deals with a lot of heavy topics, but still manages to offset these, heavy topics, with enough lightness to make the book an enjoyable quick read. As always, a great read from this author, and I will continue to read her books as they come out.
surrahsee's review
4.0
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this book. The only character I really connected with was Natalie, because she tried to be rational and objective throughout the book. That's generally how i try to approach situations, so she really stuck with me.
The emotion in this book was palpable. My heart broke for Brooke and Natalie when Jennifer rejected them, and when Natalie found out she's had a sister her whole life, and Brooke's fear about having a baby. I felt that the Natalie and Brooke were both really well developed characters jay grew and changed throughout the book. I'm glad that they were close and were able to start healing their emotional wounds through each other. There really is nothing like having a sister and I feel like the author captured that emotion and closeness.
Jennifer was frustrating in the end. For how "strong" she was described as, she really didn't act it. She does owe her daughters an explanation, especially when she can visually see how hurt and broken Brooke is, and it turned into the Jennifer show. In the end, she was selfish. I cant say how I would react in this situation, which is maybe why I can't connect with her, but for someone who claims she loved her daughters all along and they "have the biggest part of her heart," she sure doesn't act like it. She says she doesn't want to interrupt their lives, but really, she doesn't want them interrupting hers. And again, I can only imagine the guilt she felt giving up her daughters, but when presented with the opportunity to alleviate some of that guilt by reconnecting with them, she pushes them away. Maybe Evan should have done her a favor and told her what a terrible person she was instead of condoning her behavior. And that's how I really feel.
Also, why does this book end with Jennifer? Was this about her all along, or about the girls? I felt like Brooke and Natalie's story was more compelling than Jennifer's. Maybe because they chose to have a relationship and it was uplifting to see them grow and get to know each other.
Overall, this was a great, emotionally compelling, well written novel and I definitely recommend it.
The emotion in this book was palpable. My heart broke for Brooke and Natalie when Jennifer rejected them, and when Natalie found out she's had a sister her whole life, and Brooke's fear about having a baby. I felt that the Natalie and Brooke were both really well developed characters jay grew and changed throughout the book. I'm glad that they were close and were able to start healing their emotional wounds through each other. There really is nothing like having a sister and I feel like the author captured that emotion and closeness.
Jennifer was frustrating in the end. For how "strong" she was described as, she really didn't act it. She does owe her daughters an explanation, especially when she can visually see how hurt and broken Brooke is, and it turned into the Jennifer show. In the end, she was selfish. I cant say how I would react in this situation, which is maybe why I can't connect with her, but for someone who claims she loved her daughters all along and they "have the biggest part of her heart," she sure doesn't act like it. She says she doesn't want to interrupt their lives, but really, she doesn't want them interrupting hers. And again, I can only imagine the guilt she felt giving up her daughters, but when presented with the opportunity to alleviate some of that guilt by reconnecting with them, she pushes them away. Maybe Evan should have done her a favor and told her what a terrible person she was instead of condoning her behavior. And that's how I really feel.
Also, why does this book end with Jennifer? Was this about her all along, or about the girls? I felt like Brooke and Natalie's story was more compelling than Jennifer's. Maybe because they chose to have a relationship and it was uplifting to see them grow and get to know each other.
Overall, this was a great, emotionally compelling, well written novel and I definitely recommend it.
dr_manuela_reads's review
3.0
I read another book by this author and enjoyed it very much, but I am sorry to say the same was not true for this book. The plot line was interesting but it was a very slow development. I rated it with three stars even though I probably would have given it two because the mom character was interesting. If you want your notions of motherhood stirred up a bit then this book will do it.
athenany's review
5.0
This book is incredibly moving. It follows two women and their biological mother who was forced to give them up at a very young age. As an adoptive mother, this book was especially moving to me. I can't wait to check out more books by Amy Hatvany.
kklamp's review
5.0
I started this book and couldn't put it down. I have read books by this author before and this one did not disappoint. From beginning to finish, I couldn't wait to find out what would happen and develop next in the character's relationships.
kaylakaotik's review
5.0
The main thing I want to say about Somewhere Out There may be spoiler-y (honestly, I'm not sure if it is or not, so better safe than sorry), so other than that I'll be brief.
This was a wonderful book that I found incredibly hard to put down. I loved the multiple POVs and felt that each of the women had a truly unique voice. The writing was superb and full of emotion. I certainly recommend this book.
* This book was received from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *
This was a wonderful book that I found incredibly hard to put down. I loved the multiple POVs and felt that each of the women had a truly unique voice. The writing was superb and full of emotion. I certainly recommend this book.
Spoiler
I appreciated the ending to Somewhere Out There. While I enjoy "everything is rainbows and sunshine" endings just as much as the next person, I also really love the endings that aren't so perfect. It's not that I don't think this book doesn't have a happy ending (it absolutely does in its very own way), it's not the gloriously happy reunion that a person may wish for. The ending truly felt authentic for the story and the characters. The alternative wouldn't have felt as realistic and would have been disappointing for me.* This book was received from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *