Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Weight of Silence

I just finished The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf, a Dubuque writer.  Basic premise:  Two 7-year-old girls go missing, one of whom does not speak.  Callie can talk, but she doesn't and her missing friend Petra is the person who speaks for her. An intriguing premise right there. Add in the fact that fairly recently another little girl was lost and later found murdered, and you have considerably heightened the tension. The drama is told from the point of view of at least 5 characters, each of whom relates what led them to this time and place. All good stuff, but frustrating to me because I wanted to know what was happening with Callie and Petra!!!  Now!! So I had to read the book all in one sitting. Boy-Howdy is this a page-turner.  As a bonus Gudenkauf displays a remarkable understanding of the way children think, quite differently from adults.  In that divergence lies much of the book's power.

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I read it, too - loved it!

Anonymous said...

Boy-Howdy? That's a new one one me- I like it!