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Average rating: 4/5

Based on 28 ratings

The Weight of Silence

by Heather Gudenkauf

Mira | July 28, 2009 | Trade Paperback

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn''s shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.

Calli''s mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter''s voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli''s best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

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  • Louise Jolly's Review
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Rating: 2/5

Disappointing!

Louise Jolly

16 months ago

I have mixed feelings about this book - I liked it and I didn't like it. I felt the beginning was great but then began to get weighed down with way too many words and too many details and then seemed a long time in getting to the end. After all that, we never did find out why one girl was even taken!

At four years of age little Callie stopped talking due to something her father said to her on one particular day but no one knows about this other than Callie herself. Callie's mother Antonia is heartbroken as is her brother Ben when they discover that Callie has stopped being verbal. Petra is Callie's best friend and she does all the talking for Callie and seems to just know and sense what it is she wants to ask or say and says it for her. Her brother Ben always looks out for her as well so Callie has lots of people to keep her occupied and interested.

One day both Callie and her best friend Petra disappear and each character's point of view is written chapter-by-chapter in the first person which is fine but the writing just lacks 'something'. The story is told in one day which is the one day that Callie and Petra were missing in the woods.

I feel that the author had very good intentions in writing and telling this story, but the book lacked character and plot development. It wasn't a bad book at all, just not one that I personally would highly recommend and was a bit disappointed in. Not every single person loves every single book, but perhaps you will enjoy it.

Comments on this review:
Leeann Bradley

I literally JUST finished reading this book... and I'm confused about which girl you don't know why she was taken?

Louise Jolly

I don't know why I said that and if I could figure out how to "edit" the review, I would go back and remove that line.

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