bookshelves: 2018, publisher-arc, 4-star, contemporary-fiction,family-drama, new-to-me-author
EXCERPT: Noah being charged as a sex offender sucker punched our entire suburban community. Child molesters were adults – dirty old men who lured children into their cars with promises of candy and treats. They weren’t A-honor roll students who ran varsity track and went to mass every Sunday.
THE BLURB: Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now.
Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren’t any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He’s sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.
His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won’t allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son?
Saving Noah challenges everything you think you know about teenage sexual offenders. It will keep you up at night long after you’ve read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.
MY THOUGHTS: Child molestation. Bullying. Suicide. Family relationships. Secrets and lies. Author Lucinda Berry, a clinical psychologist specialising in childhood trauma, tackles some difficult subjects with sensitivity. That is not to say she pussy-foots around them, because she certainly doesn’t do that! She tackles everything head on, bravely, but with great sensitivity.
How did a boy who seemed so good do something so bad?
The story of Noah’s fall from grace is told mainly from his mother, Adrianne’s point of view, and that of Noah himself. It chronicles the fallout following 15 year old Noah’s shock admission that he has molested two young girls, the wedge it drives between the family members themselves, their friends and community. It chronicles Noah’s treatment and rehabilitation back into ‘society’ and school. But it doesn’t end there . . .
I don’t quite know what I was expecting when I began Saving Noah, but I got far more than I bargained for. I don’t quite know how to review this book without major spoilers, so I won’t. Nor do I know how to do it justice. Let me just say that it is one of the most touching, emotionally intense and sad books that I have recently read.
Thank you to Rise Press for providing a digital copy of Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the ‘about’ page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my Goodreads.com page https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2237496491
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