This book had me lying awake with my chest aching for an hour after the last page. It was haunting. Devastating. Real.

I thought I had it all figured out, but O'Dell pulled the rug out from under my feet more than once.

Some reviewers claimed to not 'get' Harley as a character or called him too violent or unlikable... To that I say, sometimes a story is just too ugly for people not to look away from it. If nothing else, these characters were tragically, gutwrenchingly human.

Put yourself in the shoes of a 19 year old boy who has been abused his entire life. Rather than being granted the freedom of adulthood, he's trapped to care for his 3 younger sisters and virtually abandoned by the system.

Rage becomes natural as Harley fights to keep them alive and striving towards normal, working two dead end jobs just to put cereal and nuked hotdogs on the table.

The girls are equally and uniquely broken by their experiences, so there is no comfort to be found in each other and all four suffer because of it.

Its easy to forget about a few kids out in the backwoods of a Pennsylvania coal mining town. Certainly easier than having to watch. That seems to be one thing we can all agree on, because there are no spectators as their home and the very fabric of their relationships begin to decay.

Except, maybe, for the married woman next door, who sees Harley's struggle and shows him the first human tenderness hes experienced since his mother.

O'Dell doesn't wrap this one up into a neat little package for us and save the day. She says - Tough luck. This is real life, and sometimes real life isn't good or fair in the end. ( )

This book had me lying awake with my chest aching for an hour after the last page. It was haunting. Devastating. Real.

I thought I had it all figured out, but O'Dell pulled the rug out from under my feet more than once.

Some reviewers claimed to not 'get' Harley as a character or called him too violent or unlikable... To that I say, sometimes a story is just too ugly for people not to look away from it. If nothing else, these characters were tragically, gutwrenchingly human.

Put yourself in the shoes of a 19 year old boy who has been abused his entire life. Rather than being granted the freedom of adulthood, he's trapped to care for his 3 younger sisters and virtually abandoned by the system.

Rage becomes natural as Harley fights to keep them alive and striving towards normal, working two dead end jobs just to put cereal and nuked hotdogs on the table.

The girls are equally and uniquely broken by their experiences, so there is no comfort to be found in each other and all four suffer because of it.

Its easy to forget about a few kids out in the backwoods of a Pennsylvania coal mining town. Certainly easier than having to watch. That seems to be one thing we can all agree on, because there are no spectators as their home and the very fabric of their relationships begin to decay.

Except, maybe, for the married woman next door, who sees Harley's struggle and shows him the first human tenderness hes experienced since his mother.

O'Dell doesn't wrap this one up into a neat little package for us and save the day. She says - Tough luck. This is real life, and sometimes real life isn't good or fair in the end. ( )

Well. That was a downer. "Back Roads" is about the dysfunctional family to end all dysfunctional families. Great book... just not a pleasant read.
Harley's mother is in prison for killing her husband (Harley's father) who abused his children. Harley got custody of his three sisters: Amber, in her first year of high school, and already sleeping around with boys regularly, Misty, who is quiet and keeps to herself most of the time, and Jody, who is still an innocent child, who loves stuffed dinosaurs and making lists. In trying to deal with his three sisters, pay utilities, taxes, buy food for the family, etc., Harley is working two full time jobs. When a pretty neighbor lady (married with children of her own) begins to have occasional sexual escapades with him, Harley thinks she is his salvation. But as the book unwinds, we learn that Harely's family is much more dysfunctional that it seemed when we merely thought a wife had shot her husband.
Personally, I much prefer lighter, happier tales. But although I can't exactly say I enjoyed it, "Back Roads" is a fine novel all the same. ( )

‘Bleak’ is how I’ll remember Back Roads.

After everything that happens to Harley & his family, I was so desperate for something good, ANY ray of light, the ending, while far from happy, was a relief.

I found this book because I saw the movie trailer and I like to read a book before its movie. The movie is almost scene for scene from the book except the movie has a different (even unhappier) ending. And they should’ve cast someone younger as Harley.

Powerful, but can twist you up.
19 yr old becomes the mainstay of three sisters when their mother is in prison after killing for them. Girls seek love inappropriately, their father was physically abusive.
[read 2001-18 yr ago] ( )