Afterward by Jennifer Mathieu

I'm still at home.  Still not allowed to do anything but walk 30 minutes.  Still bored as all get out.

I typically stay away from books where it's clear children are going to be hurt.  I am a parent and an educator, so I simply can't stomach it.  It's why I always gave the page numbers and said it was OK to skip the rape scene in The Bluest Eye.  But when this came in from Follett on our fiction subscription, I was interested in the bond that forms between characters as a result of trauma.

It is often weird how people are drawn together.  JonBenet Ramsey's father and Natalie Holloway's mother had a brief romance.  My now husband gave me a ride home after some fool went down Noble Street and smashed every car window, including mine and the rest is history.

In this story, two boys are kidnapped four years apart.  The older boy and sister of the younger boy form a friendship that helps them heal.  The description on the inside cover was enough to get me to try reading this.

Let's not sugar coat things.  Ethan and Dylan are sexually molested, but it is never described in any detail.  We can infer from Ethan's regressive memory sessions what happened.  I'd still say to be cautious in reading this book if anything I've typed so far might be a trigger for you.

Ethan and Caroline, Dylan's older sister, form a bond as she tried to figure out what happened to her brother.  Dylan is non-verbal autistic.  He was gone for several days, while Ethan had been gone 4 years.  Ethan is Caroline's only hope to help Dylan recover.

The book is also a commentary on our healthcare system.  Ethan's parents are wealthy.  His father is a dentist.  They can afford not one but two therapists.  Caroline and Dylan live near poverty.  Their father is a cheating loser who refuses to help with his son.  Their mother seems absent mentally as well.  They cannot afford proper care for Dylan, whether for his autism or therapy after he is returned.  Caroline feels it is her responsibility to help Dylan.

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Opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.