Saving Noah
We forigve murderers, not pedophiles.
Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now.
Meet Noah-an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren't any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He's sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.
His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won't allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son?
Saving Noah challenges everything you think you know about teenage sexual offenders. It will keep you up at night long after you've read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.
Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now.
Meet Noah-an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren't any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He's sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.
His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won't allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son?
Saving Noah challenges everything you think you know about teenage sexual offenders. It will keep you up at night long after you've read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
This is not a book to read on the beach.
However, while on vacation in San Diego last month, this is what I threw into my bag to take down to the beach that afternoon.
This is also not a book to read on an airplane.
Yet there I was on the plane ride home, trying to inconspicuously wipe my eyes and quietly sniffle snot back up my nose.
Without giving anything away that isn't already included in the blurb, Noah is a teenager (I believe fifteen at the time he commits the crimes and seventeen when he is released) who molests two six-year-old girls in the swim class he is instructing.
His mother finds out, the parents of the two girls find out, and consequences follow.
While there are flashback chapters, the bulk of the book focuses upon Noah trying to assimilate after serving his time and his mom trying to help him do this because despite his crimes, she still loves her son. His father has more or less disowned him and refuses to let him live in the same house, as they also have a daughter around the age of the girls Noah molested. For this reason, the mom rents an apartment for her and Noah to live in until he is old enough to live on his own. What follows is anything but sunshine and roses.
This would be a tough book for most to read.
This was a horrifying book for me to read as a mother.
First as a mother who has a six-year-old daughter. A daughter I kept glancing at on the plane ride and feeling absolutely sick to my stomach at the thought of anyone harming her.
Then as a mother who wondered - if I had the child who committed a horrific crime, what would I do? Could I turn my back on him/her? Could I shut out all those memories of "the before" - being rocked and sung to at 2am to fall back asleep, learning to walk, hugging me with chubby little arms, riding rollercoasters and building sand creations on vacations, giving the sweetest goodnight kisses? Or would I support him/her and continue that unconditional love? How unconditional is a mother's love?
The description of this book compares it to [b:We Need to Talk About Kevin|80660|We Need to Talk About Kevin|Lionel Shriver|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327865017l/80660._SY75_.jpg|3106720], which is one of my favorite books. Years after reading I still remember it and can easily recall my raw reaction to it while I was reading the horrific details. Besides the mother/son relationship with the son being a young criminal and the book being written in the mom's POV, these are not really similar. But I liked them both for completely different reasons.
[b:We Need to Talk About Kevin|80660|We Need to Talk About Kevin|Lionel Shriver|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327865017l/80660._SY75_.jpg|3106720] is thick and difficult to get through. It's dry and high level writing because that is how the mom is - dry and extremely intelligent. She was not someone I connected with which made it extra fascinating and as if I was on the outside looking in. It's a study of nature vs nurture. The details and the crime are gut wrenching. Kevin is a character to be despised.
This book is easy to read (the writing, not the subject matter). It's hard to read about the details (of which are not too in depth - you know what he did but it's not gone into fine detail about), but it's also emotional and sentimental. There are times you feel empathy for Noah and then wonder if you are a bad person to do so. And then when you wonder if you are a bad person for empathizing with him, you wonder if that makes you like all the people in the story who turned their back on him and his family because of his crime. There is some nature vs nurture here as well, but there is more of an examination of what caused Noah to do what he did and of pedophilia. It goes beyond just presenting him as an evil person. As the author is a trauma psychologist and researcher in childhood trauma, it's not surprising that this was the angle used. And I think it really worked to show the other side, that there is another side.
There was also a "twist" that the book (and I) could have done without.
Despite not being a beach book or a plane book, I really enjoyed (?! - became emotional over and was forced to think about?) this book.
4 Stars
However, while on vacation in San Diego last month, this is what I threw into my bag to take down to the beach that afternoon.
This is also not a book to read on an airplane.
Yet there I was on the plane ride home, trying to inconspicuously wipe my eyes and quietly sniffle snot back up my nose.
Without giving anything away that isn't already included in the blurb, Noah is a teenager (I believe fifteen at the time he commits the crimes and seventeen when he is released) who molests two six-year-old girls in the swim class he is instructing.
His mother finds out, the parents of the two girls find out, and consequences follow.
While there are flashback chapters, the bulk of the book focuses upon Noah trying to assimilate after serving his time and his mom trying to help him do this because despite his crimes, she still loves her son. His father has more or less disowned him and refuses to let him live in the same house, as they also have a daughter around the age of the girls Noah molested. For this reason, the mom rents an apartment for her and Noah to live in until he is old enough to live on his own. What follows is anything but sunshine and roses.
This would be a tough book for most to read.
This was a horrifying book for me to read as a mother.
First as a mother who has a six-year-old daughter. A daughter I kept glancing at on the plane ride and feeling absolutely sick to my stomach at the thought of anyone harming her.
Then as a mother who wondered - if I had the child who committed a horrific crime, what would I do? Could I turn my back on him/her? Could I shut out all those memories of "the before" - being rocked and sung to at 2am to fall back asleep, learning to walk, hugging me with chubby little arms, riding rollercoasters and building sand creations on vacations, giving the sweetest goodnight kisses? Or would I support him/her and continue that unconditional love? How unconditional is a mother's love?
The description of this book compares it to [b:We Need to Talk About Kevin|80660|We Need to Talk About Kevin|Lionel Shriver|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327865017l/80660._SY75_.jpg|3106720], which is one of my favorite books. Years after reading I still remember it and can easily recall my raw reaction to it while I was reading the horrific details. Besides the mother/son relationship with the son being a young criminal and the book being written in the mom's POV, these are not really similar. But I liked them both for completely different reasons.
[b:We Need to Talk About Kevin|80660|We Need to Talk About Kevin|Lionel Shriver|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327865017l/80660._SY75_.jpg|3106720] is thick and difficult to get through. It's dry and high level writing because that is how the mom is - dry and extremely intelligent. She was not someone I connected with which made it extra fascinating and as if I was on the outside looking in. It's a study of nature vs nurture. The details and the crime are gut wrenching. Kevin is a character to be despised.
This book is easy to read (the writing, not the subject matter). It's hard to read about the details (of which are not too in depth - you know what he did but it's not gone into fine detail about), but it's also emotional and sentimental. There are times you feel empathy for Noah and then wonder if you are a bad person to do so. And then when you wonder if you are a bad person for empathizing with him, you wonder if that makes you like all the people in the story who turned their back on him and his family because of his crime. There is some nature vs nurture here as well, but there is more of an examination of what caused Noah to do what he did and of pedophilia. It goes beyond just presenting him as an evil person. As the author is a trauma psychologist and researcher in childhood trauma, it's not surprising that this was the angle used. And I think it really worked to show the other side, that there is another side.
There was also a "twist" that the book (and I) could have done without.
Despite not being a beach book or a plane book, I really enjoyed (?! - became emotional over and was forced to think about?) this book.
4 Stars
One of the saddest books I’ve ever read. Buckle up for this one. Major triggers for some but the storyline and ending are insane.
Well written, grappled well with a taboo topic.
The characters were well written and easy to connect with, I had tears streaming ! is a rarity these days from books! Highly recommend I will definitely read her other titles
I tried to dislike it
It wasn't until the end I realized the book isn't about paedophilia and feeling bad for them but about a mother who loved her son and while delusional struggled to do what's right by him and other children.
It wasn't until the end I realized the book isn't about paedophilia and feeling bad for them but about a mother who loved her son and while delusional struggled to do what's right by him and other children.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.