Far from Here

I am going to Alaska in a few months, so I’m listening to audiobooks that are set in Alaska. Kind of trying to immerse myself in the culture and setting before I get there. I’m also trying to read varying genres to get a wide variety of viewpoints and experiences. So, I found Far From Here by Nicole Baart, a women’s fiction novel which is partially set in Alaska. Let me first say this is not an Alaska novel. A few scenes are set in that state, but the majority of the novel takes place in the main character’s small Iowa town. Alaska is a big symbol, though, for Danica Greene the young woman who is at the center of Far From Here. It is the place where her hopes and dreams of the future vanish. This novel is labeled as Christian show more fiction (its publisher is a Christian imprint), but it is far different from the traditional offerings found in CF. This novel is edgy, to say the least. The characters’ lives are really messy. They drink, swear, and sleep around (albeit off the page). And while the center of the novel is the disappearance of Danica’s husband, the novel is really about the lies, half-truths, and deceptions we tell others and ourselves. I really liked this book. It was not an easy read — for most of the book despair and depression dominate. But the hope found in the end was well worth all the angst along the way. This book made me think; it would be a great book club selection. Far From Here is told in the first person recollections of Danica and in an objective third person voice. This style allowed the reader to get in the head of the main character, while at the same time understand all that was actually going on. The audiobook employed two readers to great effect.

As I stated, I liked this book. Would I recommend it? Yes, but with a caveat for those who just don’t want to read a book with adult language and situations.

Recommended (with a warning for language and adult situations.)

Audience: adults.

(I purchase the audiobook from Audible. All opinions expressed are mine alone.) show less

When Goodreads.com sent me a free copy of Far From Here: A Novel, written by Nicole Baart, I was really looking forward to reading it. The premise of the novel is one that is written from the perspective of someone who has been left behind when someone they care about turns into a missing case. Was the person lost or did the person leave and will he return? Will he be found? What caused him to go in the first place and what happened when he did?

As someone who thrives on a good conspiracy theory, I know, I know, I should know better, but I do thrive on them, I couldn’t wait to see what Nicole Baart’s take on what it might be like to be in that uncomfortable position of loving someone and then having them disappear would look like. I show more tend to live vicariously through my books and would never, ever want to experience this firsthand, but I have frequently wondered about the people that just drop off the face of the earth. Did they choose it? Did something happen to them? Are they still there?

With these questions in mind, I opened up the beautifully illustrated cover of Far From Here and settled down for a good read. Danica and Etsell have been married for the majority of their adult lives. Etsell is a passionate pilot and Danica is his flight-phobic support system. On the surface, their marriage is perfect, even after ten years, and though Danica cannot share Etsell’s dream of flight, they begin to discuss having a family.

Etsell takes a flight job for a friend and will be in Alaska for two weeks flying, which is his dream job. Etsell has always wanted to work there on a permanent basis but Danica is set in her feelings of staying where they have planted roots and avoiding flying at all costs. It is with this dissonance between them that Etsell leaves for his two week business trip.

Danica focuses on his return until her doorbell rings and she gets the news that Etsell has gone missing. The remainder of the book, without giving anything away, is spent determining what has happened to him, if he meant to leave her, and exactly what was happening in their relationship when he left. Ultimately, Danica looks within herself and looks at how you can live with someone for ten years and never really know or understand them or yourself.

Does Danica ever find out what happened to Etsell? Does he return? Did he mean to leave her? Far From Here is a book that kept me entertained and moving through it at a rapid pace. The writing was well done and the characters were dynamic. With every page turn I felt like I needed to know more. I wanted a neatly packaged ending, but we don’t always get them in real life. Many books neglect the secondary characters and this book was an exception. The secondary characters in the novel are those that are used to show us who Danica truly is and they were not just thrown in there to add “filler” to the book. This was a nicely done book and I’d honestly like to see a sequel to it, if for no other reason than to tidy up the ending and to find out what Danica chooses to do from here. show less

Danica Greene always hated flying, so it was almost laughable that the boy of her dreams was a pilot. She married him anyway, and together, she and Etsell settled into a life where love really did seem to conquer all.

When opportunity to spend three weeks in Alaska helping a pilot friend presents itself, Etsell accepts and their idyllic world is turned upside down. It's hit dream, he reveals, and Danica knows that she can't stand in the way. Etsell is on his last flight before heading home when his plane vanishes shortly after takeoff, leaving Danice in a free fall. He's gone, but what exactly does gone mean? Is she a widow? An abandoned wife? Or will Estell find his way home to her?

Forced to search for the truth in her marriage, Danica show more grapples with the impossible questions about her husband's mysterious disappearance. And when she learns that Ell wasn't flying alone, the bits and pieces of the careful life that she constructed for them take to the wind...

I received Far From Here by Nicole Baart compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster for my honest review and found this story hard to comprehend. I don't know what I would do if my husband went missing, with no sign of a crash and no remains of a plane, just a big opened ended question much like what Danica is faced with in the book. Not quite knowing what to do or where to begin, she struggles with taking advice from her dysfunctional family who means well and from her surrogate mother-in-law who offers to help her get her life back on track by any means possible. There's even a kind pastor/neighbor who offers to get her mind off things by helping her maintain her lawn without bringing up her missing husband.

This really hits home in so many ways because the struggle by Danica to figure out what to do is very real. She deals with how long does she wait before she must realize he isn't coming back, how does she cope with being alone, and how does she deal with the truth that her marriage wasn't all she thought it was. A very compelling read and one I could not put down until the final page was turned. A believable and well-written story about a tragic loss and how one woman will weather the storm. For that I rate this story a 5 out of 5 stars. show less

Danica Greene, the heroine of author Nicole Baart's compelling novel "Far From Here", was just sixteen when she met the man of her dreams. Three years later, she married him and together they built a life together, working around her fear of flying and his life as a pilot and flight instructor. When Danica's husband, Etsell, accepts an offer to help a friend and spend several weeks in Alaska, she is not pleased that she was not consulted in his decision. Shortly after takeoff on a test run, his plane vanishes, and Danica's life becomes a nightmarish emotional limbo. The news that Etsell was accompanied on the trip by another woman is unbearable and unfathomable. Was everything that Danica thought to be true about their lives simply her show more refusal to see things without blinders? Danica's struggle to cope with her crippling pain and personal doubt is intensified by interference of her highly dysfunctional family, the watchful eyes of her very small community, and her own reaction to the empathy offered by her neighbor, Ben. A bombshell revelation about Etsell's relationship with the other woman further complicates her fight to regain control of her existence. You can't read this story without placing yourself in Danica's shoes, feeling her pain and confusion, and rebelling against the cruelty of a fate unknown. This is the story of a remarkable woman whose inner strength and mental fortitude are tested in ways that she could never have imagined. You will follow her through to the end of her eventful emotional journey and weep at her sorrows and share in her smiles. A recommended read.

Review Copy Gratis Amazon Vine show less

Far From Here
by: Nicole Baart

I won this book from Goodreads/First Reads

This novel is about a couple, Dani and Etsell, who marry young and seem to have the perfect romance. He's a pilot and Dani has a fear of flying. Etsell gets an opertunity to make a trip flying to Alaska and ends up missing. After a week the search is called off and Dani is left to figure out the pieces of what she thought was her life.

Dani makes a trip to Alaska herself after the search is called off to try to find answers for herself. This is where she learns that her husband may have had secrets she never knew about and her life may not have been as "perfect" as she may have believed. Dani has to try to come to terms with everything she learns and this book is show more about her jouney to do that.

The author has added so much into this book. You get a real sense of her heartache and turmoil. The quirkiness of family. Some of the troubles from marrying so young, anger and disbelief of finding out your loved ones may not be what you have believed them to be. Baart really touches on the little details of a situation like this that could have easily been left out but really help you feel the pain of loss and confussion that you would be confronted with at a time like this.

There are other questions that she has to figure out also. How soon to start a new relationship and even how some decisions effect others even after we're gone. This is a great read and one that I'd recommend highly. Great Book! show less

Loved this story and the characters. The ending was a perfect blend of mystery and closure.

Real human characters you can relate to, beautiful moving story of life and hope.