In 1970, as the hippie movement is losing its innocence, Shoshanna and her six-year-old sister, Mara, escape from Sweet Earth Farm, a declining commune, run by their tyrannical and abusive father, Adam. Their mother, Ella, takes them to San Francisco, where they meet one of her old friends, Judy, and the four of them decide to head off and try to make a life together. Finding a safe haven at the farm of kind, elderly Avery Elliot, the four of them find some measure of peace and stability. Then their mother's crippling depression returns. Confused and paranoid, Ella is convinced that she and the girls must leave before Adam finds them and extracts revenge. The girls don't wish to leave the only stable home they've ever had. But as Ella grows worse and worse, events conspire to leave them to face a choice they never could have imagined. Shoshanna has always watched over her sister and once again she has to watch over her ailing mother. Will she ever live a "normal" life?
My general opinion of Disappear Home is that it was a good story, with characters placed in difficult situation, but it just lacked a whole lot of heart. I think this could have been a very enlightening and harrowing story, but Hurwitz just doesn't write well enough for me to connect to the story. I could have been more afraid of Adam, or more empathetic of Shoshanna and Mara, but I just couldn't really connect with the characters or the story so I really struggled with this one.
I feel like this book was one big infodump where we are told to be afraid of Adam, we're told that the girls have to get away, we're told that Avery and Judy are good but we're fed that information, rather than these things being demonstrated so that we can come to our own opinions.
There really isn't a lot more that I can say about Disappear Home (Which is sad because I hate posting short reviews). there was nothing wrong with this book - there is nothing I want to rant about. I just feel like Hurwitz skimmed the surface of what could have been a much deeper story.
Book released 1st March 2015 by Albert Whitman and Co
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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