Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands

As a fan of other Bohjalian books, I started out lukewarm on this one. It's about a fabricated but disastrous nuclear plant accident in Vermont, told through the eyes of a teenage, Emily-Dickinson-obsessed girl poet, whose father was chief engineer at the plant.

Initially I found the nuclear accident a bit preposterous but as I continued reading, I soon got past that. The book becomes much more a story about a homeless teenager and the dark side of how these young people survive, forced to make difficult and dangerous decisions on a daily basis about sex, drugs, trust, and intimacy.

Bohjalian achieves a feat I have seldom found in male-written books with female protagonists -- and that is, he has created a completely believable, show more stream-of-consciousness voice, that sounds like any teenage girl's diary you might read.

And the more I read, the more I became invested in this girl's welfare and fretted about what would happen to her. So, stick with this one, if you find yourself tempted to drop it. show less

As a fan of other Bohjalian books, I started out lukewarm on this one. It's about a fabricated but disastrous nuclear plant accident in Vermont, told through the eyes of a teenage, Emily-Dickinson-obsessed girl poet, whose father was chief engineer at the plant.

Initially I found the nuclear accident a bit preposterous but as I continued reading, I soon got past that. The book becomes much more a story about a homeless teenager and the dark side of how these young people survive, forced to make difficult and dangerous decisions on a daily basis about sex, drugs, trust, and intimacy.

Bohjalian achieves a feat I have seldom found in male-written books with female protagonists -- and that is, he has created a completely believable, show more stream-of-consciousness voice, that sounds like any teenage girl's diary you might read.

And the more I read, the more I became invested in this girl's welfare and fretted about what would happen to her. So, stick with this one, if you find yourself tempted to drop it. show less

Given everything Emily experiences once the sirens sound, it is no wonder her life spirals downward as low as it does. Not only must she mourn the loss of her parents and her previous life, she also must deal with the anger and blame targeting her parents for the accident. As she so clearly displays, this is a combination of emotions that no teenage girl is capable of handling well. Her paranoia is justifiable and even admirable given the life she faces on the streets, something driven home by the reactions of others when they discover her true identity. That she succumbs to drug use and other unsavory acts is also completely understandable as she attempts to offset the guilt she feels on behalf of her father. In other words, Emily and show more the entire story is a psychiatrist’s dream.

Emily’s life on the streets is raw and intense and utterly heart-breaking. Her longing for her life as it was versus the reality of her life as it is now is palpable. Even though her choices are understandable, it does not make the consequences any easier to watch unfold. Her self-loathing is scathing, and the manifestations of her pain and anguish require sincere effort to read.

Just when a reader thinks the story cannot get any more intense or emotional, Emily shares a story about a recent tragedy that becomes a complete game-changer. In one sentence, the entire novel changes in dimension and meaning and not necessarily in a pleasant way. For, Emily’s anecdote is one that reminds readers of the worst things humans can do to one another and who the real victims are. It is one of the most profound moments in a novel this reader has ever experienced, one that changes Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands from good to great.

Mr. Bohjalian’s writing, as always, is wonderful. He captures Emily’s voice perfectly. She speaks with just the right amount of self-righteous indignation for a standard teenager with a growing awareness due to her increasing maturity. His focus on the Vermont setting is not quite as detailed as is his wont, but it is not necessary to the story for it to be anything other than an indistinct blur. For, the story is Emily, her thoughts, her experiences, and her emotions. It is painful, gut-wrenching, emotionally difficult, and brutally honest. It does not get much better than that. show less

Chris Bohjalian has written a heartbreaking story in “Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands”. Emily Shepherd's world has collapsed after the nuclear power plant where both her parents work experiences a meltdown. People die (including her parents), homes and families are torn apart and the finger pointing begins. And who better to blame than people who are no longer around to defend themselves? Emily runs away from the temporary evacuation site and finds herself living on the street.

As has been the case in a number of his other books (Midwives, for example), Bohjolian writes convincingly in the voice of a teenaged girl. The book is written as if it is Emily's journal - the people who help her along the way and those whom she befriends and show more helps are well fleshed out; she speaks of the perils of living on the street and the tricks used to enable a person to survive that experience.

I really liked this book (I am a fan of this author). Bohjolian puts a sentence together beautifully. He tells a believable story. Emily Shepard is a character you can care about. show less

Chris Bohjalian does a great job of capturing a teenage girl's voice in this thought-provoking story. In fact, on the audio version, his own daughter is the narrator. Emily Shepherd is a troubled teen in the best of times, but when the meltdown comes -- literally -- the nuclear reactor in her idyllic Vermont town, where both her parents are employed experiences a Chernobyl-size disaster, Emily becomes even more messed up, and grown-up simultaneously. Forced to evacuate her hometown, bused out of school to towns outside the exclusion zone, and unsure of her parents' (and beloved dog's) fate, Emily strikes out on a journey of independence. Her father was the plant's main engineer, so he is blamed for the whole thing and that keeps Emily show more from coming forward to try to be found or connected with anyone who can help her. She has no other viable family (elderly grandparents in nursing homes)and feels too ashamed to seek out friends. Instead she decides to survive on the streets by herself, predictably in the few ways teenage girls can. After a few months, she befriends a young boy, Cameron, and that alters her survival mode to be more maternal and wary, but when he becomes deathly ill, her whole house of cards tumbles down. The title refers to the advice given to children evacuated from the Sandy Hook school shooting as they navigated the carnage. It is equally applicable to Emily and her journey of self-discovery and survival. show less

5 out of 5 stars - Superbly written and hauntingly poignant, this novel is destined to become a modern day classic with a character who is authentic, vulnerable, and so honest that it will make a reader's heart ache with the desire to protect her. Shelter her. Save her.

Emily Shepard was 16-years-old the day Reactor Number One exploded on the second to the last day of her junior year of high school at Reddington Academy. She and her parents, who both worked at the nuclear power plant nearby on Cape Abenaki, lived comfortably there in Reddington, Vermont -- also known as the Northeast Kingdom. On the morning of the meltdown, Emily ran away from the temporary evacuation site where all the students had been bussed to wait until parents and show more guardians would come to retrieve them from a safe zone. What follows is her tale of life basically alone on the streets -- for her mother and father are surely dead. And, what's even worse -- her father is being blamed for the disaster. Afraid to reveal who she really is, and teetering on the edge of emotional breakdown, Emily lives mostly inside her head remembering the poems of her much-loved favorite poet, Emily Dickinson, as a relatable gauge of her emotions. She's always been impulsive and had been in trouble before because of her poor judgment, but now she has to stay alive in a world so different from her previous life "waffling between suicide and survival."

I loved this book and feel that it will be very appealing to all ages, especially young adults, because the heroine is so believable -- not superhuman but real. The story is one that could have come straight from recent headlines (Fukushima) and will linger as a reminder that "radioactivity lasts as long as the soul." The title serves as both a precaution and a leap of faith. I'll be recommending this novel to everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the e-book ARC to review. show less

I don't know why I began my story with the igloo. The igloo was really the beginning of the end-or, maybe, the end of the beginning.

I am used to reading, and really enjoying, historical fiction from Chris Bohjalian. This book is vastly different from what I've read from him but it was just as enjoyable. This book follows Emily Shepard and what her life becomes after a nuclear reactor explodes at the nuclear plant where her father is chief engineer. After her father is blamed for the explosion she runs away and takes on a new identity.

This book might be a little frustrating for some people because this is written as though Emily is writing in a journal letting people know about her experiences and she tends to jump around a lot. Normally show more this would drive me insane but since Emily was a character that I was easily able to identify with the jumping around didn't bother me one bit.

I genuinely enjoyed reading about Emily. She goes through some pretty horrible things and does some bad things and I couldn't help but want her to get through her difficult times and get the help she didn't know she needed. I loved how authentic her tone was throughout the book. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Cameron and I loved how protective Emily was towards him. I enjoyed Emily's discussions throughout the book about Emily Dickinson as I too enjoy her poems (I used to write poems like Emily Shepard and boy did I think I was such a pretty).

I don't want to say much about the ending, just that I felt it was a great ending and definitely fit with what had previously happened. It was great getting to read something different and fresh from Chris Bohjalian and I look forward to reading whatever he has in store next. show less