Brave Girl, Quiet Girl
By
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Relationships: the way in which two or more people regard and behave toward each other. Relationships can be so difficult and complicated. Relationships can be the best things ever or ones that hurt more than words. This is a story that delves mainly into the realm of mother/daughter relationships. Ms. Hyde wrote a very sensitive and compassionate story about how this relationship can be flawed and leave a daughter rejected. Not just one daughter/mother relationship, but two. "We either grow up to be our mother or we make a solemn vow to the universe to be her polar opposite." This is also about a relationship between two people who become connected through unimaginable circumstances and the love they share for a little girl named Etta. This is an emotionally packed book that tugged my heart all across the feelings spectrum. The characters Ms. Hyde created in this story were ones I became instantly attached to.
Brooke is Etta's mother. She loves Etta more than anything else in the world and she wants to be the best mom to her she can possibly be. Nothing like her own mother is to her. But an unthinkable thing happens and Etta becomes a missing child!
Molly is a homeless teen living on the streets in L.A. She's just trying to survive after her mother kicks her out of the house. She connects with a guy, Bodhi, and together they are living on the streets when Molly finds a little toddler girl, Etta. Molly's heart goes out to this little one and her protective instincts kick in.
This is the setup to an in-depth story that is told from alternating points-of-view between Brooke and Molly. The heart wrenching pain I felt when Brooke is desperate to find her sweet child, Etta, is intense. I've had a missing child and the minutes, hours, days are agonizing. The turmoil Brooke went through was gut wrenchingly written. As are all the emotions with the characters. It is especially evident in the connection between Molly and Etta. It was an instant bond and trust between the two. Not so much between Brooke and Molly to begin with but Ms. Hyde nurtured that relationship with care and timeliness that made me pull for them to become trusting and bonded.
I loved the internal dialogue each character has with herself. It's like a story telling dialogue from their minds. The thoughts of Molly were especially good in the teenager lingo that fits so well in how they think and express themselves. ".....I heard the baby girl in the back seat, and she was calling my name, too. It was a little bit quiet, but I could hear her saying "Molly, Molly, Molly," and it melted all my mad away. I could just feel it turn to water and pour out of me, like I was all leaky and full of holes." The emotions the characters experience were genuine and so true to what happens in life. No one is perfect but love can make the imperfectness be the "perfect" someone else needs.
The settings were vividly described throughout the book. In my mind I could see the homeless camps and shelters vividly. The shelters made out of cardboard and old tarps or crates. Ms. Hyde made me feel I was experiencing the very real issue of homeless people and what it is like. The secret "code" they have between them. The way they are avoided or treated as inferior people. It made me sad. But the other settings, the foster home, the homes of the mothers of Brooke and Molly, the desert travel...all are just as vivid as if I were there, too. Word pictures brought to life.
This is a story that I stepped into the pages and forgot about my own surroundings. From the first word to the last, it took me on a journey that sometimes things happen for the better and that bad things can lead to good, if given a chance. "It was like what was happening, or at least what I thought was happening, was so big it made my heart stretch until it hurt." I want to thank Ms. Hyde, Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC copy of Brave Girl, Quiet Girl. It was an honor to read it. All opinions and thoughts in this review are my heartfelt own.
Relationships: the way in which two or more people regard and behave toward each other. Relationships can be so difficult and complicated. Relationships can be the best things ever or ones that hurt more than words. This is a story that delves mainly into the realm of mother/daughter relationships. Ms. Hyde wrote a very sensitive and compassionate story about how this relationship can be flawed and leave a daughter rejected. Not just one daughter/mother relationship, but two. "We either grow up to be our mother or we make a solemn vow to the universe to be her polar opposite." This is also about a relationship between two people who become connected through unimaginable circumstances and the love they share for a little girl named Etta. This is an emotionally packed book that tugged my heart all across the feelings spectrum. The characters Ms. Hyde created in this story were ones I became instantly attached to.
Brooke is Etta's mother. She loves Etta more than anything else in the world and she wants to be the best mom to her she can possibly be. Nothing like her own mother is to her. But an unthinkable thing happens and Etta becomes a missing child!
Molly is a homeless teen living on the streets in L.A. She's just trying to survive after her mother kicks her out of the house. She connects with a guy, Bodhi, and together they are living on the streets when Molly finds a little toddler girl, Etta. Molly's heart goes out to this little one and her protective instincts kick in.
This is the setup to an in-depth story that is told from alternating points-of-view between Brooke and Molly. The heart wrenching pain I felt when Brooke is desperate to find her sweet child, Etta, is intense. I've had a missing child and the minutes, hours, days are agonizing. The turmoil Brooke went through was gut wrenchingly written. As are all the emotions with the characters. It is especially evident in the connection between Molly and Etta. It was an instant bond and trust between the two. Not so much between Brooke and Molly to begin with but Ms. Hyde nurtured that relationship with care and timeliness that made me pull for them to become trusting and bonded.
I loved the internal dialogue each character has with herself. It's like a story telling dialogue from their minds. The thoughts of Molly were especially good in the teenager lingo that fits so well in how they think and express themselves. ".....I heard the baby girl in the back seat, and she was calling my name, too. It was a little bit quiet, but I could hear her saying "Molly, Molly, Molly," and it melted all my mad away. I could just feel it turn to water and pour out of me, like I was all leaky and full of holes." The emotions the characters experience were genuine and so true to what happens in life. No one is perfect but love can make the imperfectness be the "perfect" someone else needs.
The settings were vividly described throughout the book. In my mind I could see the homeless camps and shelters vividly. The shelters made out of cardboard and old tarps or crates. Ms. Hyde made me feel I was experiencing the very real issue of homeless people and what it is like. The secret "code" they have between them. The way they are avoided or treated as inferior people. It made me sad. But the other settings, the foster home, the homes of the mothers of Brooke and Molly, the desert travel...all are just as vivid as if I were there, too. Word pictures brought to life.
This is a story that I stepped into the pages and forgot about my own surroundings. From the first word to the last, it took me on a journey that sometimes things happen for the better and that bad things can lead to good, if given a chance. "It was like what was happening, or at least what I thought was happening, was so big it made my heart stretch until it hurt." I want to thank Ms. Hyde, Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC copy of Brave Girl, Quiet Girl. It was an honor to read it. All opinions and thoughts in this review are my heartfelt own.
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