No Time to Wave Goodbye, by Jacquelyn Mitchard, is a sequel to her 1996 novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, which was later made into a movie.In The Deep End of the Ocean, three year old Ben Cappadora was kidnapped, and surprisingly, he returns home nine years later.
In Mitchard's latest novel, the Cappadora children are grown. Vincent, an older brother of Ben, films a documentary about five families whose children were abducted and are still missing. Sister Kerry helps with the film.
At the screening of the documentary, Beth, the mother, is shocked when she learns what the film is about. The film begins to stir up old wounds and emotions among family members. When the film is nominated for an Academy Award, everyone is thrilled for Vincent, and everyone is looking forward to the big event. While the family is celebrating at the ceremony, the happiness they are feeling becomes short-lived when the unthinkable happens --another abduction occurs, causing all the past terrors of such a horrible event to be relived.
My Thoughts: A good story with some poignant and skillfully drawn out scenes, kept me turning the pages. However, all was not perfect with this novel. There were boring and unnecessary details (which seemed to go on forever) about Hollywood, fashions and makeovers. There were also some highly improbable events that occurred. The author did redeem herself, in my opinion, by tying up some loose ends rather well.
RECOMMENDATION: To get the full impact of the story, I would recommend reading The Deep End of the Ocean first, or at least watch the movie, if you have not done so already.
How interesting that she waited this long to produce a sequel. I loved both the first book and the movie.
ReplyDeleteGood review! Is this based on a true story or true stories?
ReplyDeleteI loved the first book very much. I re-read it every now & then even though it hurts my heart every time.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited to read this book. I loved Deep End of The Ocean.... This goes under my wish tab.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a heartbreaking story. I was just wondering if you ever got to read Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo.
ReplyDeleteYou had commented on my review that you reserved it at the library but I didn't know if you were put on a waiting list.
Even if I had read The Deep End of the Ocean, I would probably have to re-read it now. Maybe I'll try it and see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the movie version of The Deep End of the Ocean, but I never did read the book. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading The Deep End of the Ocean ... and I will probably re-read it before giving this a try. Thank you for the balanced review. it gives me a better idea of what to expect in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that she would go back to this family.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. I don't know anything about either book or the movie, but you've definitely got my attention!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize she had written a sequel to Deep End. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteIam glad that she wrote a sequel.great review. I lover her first book too.
ReplyDeleteI totally did not know there was a sequel to "Deep End of the Ocean" so thanks for that tidbit. It sounds kind of an odd follow-up though. Not sure if I want to read it actually.
ReplyDeleteI will check out both. And Deep End of The Ocean is a great poeic title!
ReplyDeleteHi, I read and reviewed this book last week. It's on my Rainy Days and Mondays blog, at http://laurel-rain-snow.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteIt was enjoyable and brought up a lot of issues for this family. Hopefully, this kind of thing doesn't happen often in real life!
Wow, it's been a long time since the first book came out, I wouldn't have expected a sequel so late in the game. I did read the first book and thought it was pretty good. I think I might actually be interested in reading this sequel, it sounds good, even though you say it was somewhat too detailed. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI had added this book to my tbr list just because of who it was by but I didn't realize it was a f/u to The Deep End of the Ocean, which I loved.
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