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Loading... The Year of Fog (Bantam Discovery) (edition 2008)by Michelle Richmond
Work InformationThe Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The Year Of Fog tells the story of a kidnapped child. A story that's been told a number of times. And I've read my share of them. But there are a number of things which sets this one apart. First of all, it's told from the point of view of the child's stepmother. A boldly different point perspective. It also includes many beautifully written passages on the use of photography as a means, not only to freeze a moment in time, but to imprint that time into our memories. And for me, it's these brilliant dissertations into so many different aspects of our memories, and the ways in which these memories shape, effect, and in some cases, define our lives that makes this novel special. ( ) Evocative novel about Abby, a woman who hopes to one day be wife to Jake, a high school teacher, and stepmother to Emma, his six-year-old daughter. Only Abby glances away just long enough to lose Emma on a fog-filled San Franciscan beach. The majority of the novel is an interplay between the science of memory, the search for Emma, and the deteriorating relationship between Jake and Abby. Although exceptionally well-written and carefully balanced between science, memory, and present-tense plot, I experienced moments of complete listlessness in reading, which could have easily been resolved if the author had chosen to nix some of the factual and scientific renderings and the repetitive emotional obsessiveness the narrator chose to indulge in and get back to the plot. I guess I'm spoiled by commercial fiction with its fast-paced, emotionally streamlined narrative. This is the only fault with the book, and it is why I give it only 4 instead of 5 stars. When I go on vacation, I like to read books that place in that locale. This year my destination was San Francisco, and I happened upon this wonderful novel about memory, obsession, and one woman’s search for a missing child. I don’t know about you, but when I hear about a child who has gone missing without a single trace, I shake my head, say a quick prayer, and tell others that I cannot imagine what the parents are feeling. Michelle Richmond did an amazing job in keep the character in one place yet moving forward at the same time, all the while letting readers be voyeurs of this horrific happening. Freelance photographer Abby Mason is the step-mother-to-be to six-year-old Emma. Abby loves her new role as fiancée and as friend and mom. Abby and Emma go to the foggy Ocean Beach almost every day. Today it may be summer, but it’s almost always cold and foggy at this remote beach. Emma twists her tiny hand from Abby’s and runs ahead. Momentarily distracted by a dead seal pup, when Abby turns back to Emma, she has disappeared in the fog. Literally, she is gone. Readers will get a behind-the-scenes look at a search for a missing child. The police and volunteers who comb the area, the flyers, the reward posting, the sleepless nights, the inability to choke down more than a few morsels of food, the fear that grips Abby and Jake, Emma’s father. Police at first believe she has drowned. Then they look at the Jake and Abby as possible suspects. Jake goes on national television to plead with anyone who may have seen Emma, especially her mother, Lisbeth, who abandoned Jake and Emma three years earlier. As the minutes turn to hours to days to weeks to months, the police give up as new, more solvable cases capture their attention. After months, Jake wants to hold a memorial service and move on with life. But not Abby, she refuses to believe that Emma cannot be found. Readers go with her on her travels through the Bay area, shoving flyers into strangers’ hands, practically begging for help. Readers go with Abby on her quest to locate any memory of their surroundings on the beach that day. I don’t often have a need to peek at a novel’s ending, but the tension is so great that it was all I could do not to peep at the ending. I give The Year of Fog 6 out of 5 stars. no reviews | add a review
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Photographer Abby Mason's life is changed forever by the disappearance of the young girl with whom she had been walking on a cold and foggy beach, and her desperate search for the truth behind the child's vanishing. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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