The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Title: The Smell of Other People's Houses
Author: Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Publication: February 23rd, 2016
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Summary:
In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger. Four very different lives are about to become entangled.
My Review:
Lou's mind stars: ✭✭✭✭
16.06.11 The Smell of Other People's Houses is one of those books I choose based on the cover, so I can have some nice surprises as well as very bad ones but this one is in the very good category. I was surprised by it. After reading the first chapter, I was not sure if I would keep reading it. It was part due to the facts happening in the story, just little details which got me kind of disgusted but then, I went to read few articles on Alaska back in 1970 and things made sense so I kept going through the story and I was not disappointed. We have four stories interwoven, four (and a little more) kids that learn how life can be more difficult that they thought and how to deal with the cards they have in hands in order to grow up and make a life of their own. It is written is such a way that you can see that all the characters are linked to each other in some unexpected way but I won't say more because you need to discover all of this by yourself. It's slow paced, sometimes a bit confusing but in the end, everything makes sense in some ways. I just wish we would know more about the details of some characters' stories - such as Selma - but in a strange way, I like that we don't know much either. As much as it was difficult for me to get into this book at first, in the end I could not put it down. I will definitely check on more of this author's stories.
*book received from the author via netgalley for an honest review*
