In today's guest post Sonja Somerville, Liz Hughes and Robin Beerbower of the Salem Public Library in Salem, Oregon discuss Chevy Stevens' brand new book, STILL MISSING and explain why it was far more than they were expecting.
It’s important to understand that each of the three reviewers involved in this exercise rolled her eyes at the idea of STILL MISSING by Chevy Stevens. “Oh, please,” we each said. “Not ANOTHER story about a woman held helpless in a cabin, dehumanized by the cruelty of her captor.”
But we were all dead wrong. OK. There is a story about a woman kidnapped and held in a remote cabin. But what Chevy Stevens really writes about is the story of the seething, messy aftermath endured by the woman who got away from the cabin. The author focuses her best energy on dissecting the continued distress it causes Annie O’Sullivan to return to what used to be normal after spending a year in extreme circumstances.
Stevens’ has chosen to tell the story in Annie’s bitter, uncooperative voice, in hard-edged monologues addressed to her therapist. It’s very effective. It is in that angry voice that the details of her abduction and torture at the hands of the super-creepy “Freak” are revealed, illuminating the extremity of Annie’s trauma.
The story is gripping from the opening words, but there is nothing more compelling in the entire narrative than the seismic jolt at the end when a twist of epic proportions is revealed.
We found ourselves bubbling over with questions – not just questions we wanted to ask, but questions we needed to discuss in order for us to get over the experience of reading “Still Missing.”
WARNING: Questions do contain spoilers.
- How did the abduction experience change Annie and what parts of herself did she retain throughout the drama?
- How would her life be different if she hadn’t been abducted? Are there positive elements to her transformation?
- Was “The Freak” a believable and consistent character throughout? How could such a careful and controlling person have made the mistake that led to his undoing?
- How important was Gary to her recovery?
- Is it true that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?
- Chevy Stevens has created one of the worst mothers ever imagined. Does she draw the character well enough to make her and her actions believable?
--Sonja Somerville, Robin Beerbower, and Liz Hughes, Guest Reviewers
