Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands (Review by AmberBug)

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands Chris Bohjalian 4/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "I built an igloo against the cold out of black plastic trash bags filled with wet leaves."
Publisher's Description: A heartbreaking, wildly inventive, and moving novel narrated by a teenage runaway, from the bestselling author of Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the story of Emily Shepard, a homeless girl living in an igloo made of garbage bags in Burlington. Nearly a year ago, a power plant in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont had a meltdown, and both of Emily's parents were killed. Devastatingly, her father was in charge of the plant, and the meltdown may have been his fault—was he drunk when it happened? Thousands of people are forced to leave their homes in the Kingdom; rivers and forests are destroyed; and Emily feels certain that as the daughter of the most hated man in America, she is in danger. So instead of following the social workers and her classmates after the meltdown, Emily takes off on her own for Burlington, where she survives by stealing, sleeping on the floor of a drug dealer's house, inventing a new identity for herself, and befriending a young homeless kid named Cameron. But Emily can't outrun her past, can't escape her grief, can't hide forever-and so she comes up with the only plan that she can.
Dear Reader, I think Arianna gave us an excellent review of this book. I'll try and fill in the gaps but I think that might be hard to do. This was an audiobook for me and I was very captivated by the book in that format. This might not be the case for everyone but I know for myself, I end up having a different experience based on the format of the book I'm reading. I know I've gone on a tangent about this before, so I'll spare you my rant. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is a heartbreaking tale about a girl stuck in the middle of a real life nightmare. I say nightmare because what happens to her is so unimaginable, but at the same time... entirely possible. Her (Emily's) parents work at the local power plant up in Vermont, which isn't that crazy except for when tragedy strikes the town and the power plant has a meltdown. Emily knows in her heart that her parents are dead and that the cause of the meltdown might lay in their hands. During the evacuation of her school, she ends up overhearing kids and adults talking about her parents and giving her strange looks. The reader is forced to follow Emily through all this but at the same time wanting to cover her ears and walk her away from the mess of emotions. Understandably, people are upset and will be talking about what might have caused the accident in the first place, it's only human nature to point fingers, right? In this book, we get to see the wrongness of it all through the eyes of an innocent girl. It's truly heartbreaking. What happens next in the book is somewhat predictable, after Emily hears the inner thoughts of her neighbors and friends, knowing that they blame her family for what has happened, she bolts. I don't think anyone in her position would have done differently. Just when you thought things couldn't get any sadder, they do. We follow Emily on her sad trip between finding her next meal, getting a good nights rest and learning who to trust. The entire time you feel hopeful for her, like she gets this power from within herself to keep going. Along the way, she meets this other homeless kid, much younger, and decides to help him out. These two become a team (with her acting as the parent/older sister) and they try and get by together. The journey they go through is just REALLY hard and sad, this is not a book for the "happy" only reading club. Nope. Read this when you have the right frame of mind, but know that the fuzzy parts make you feel really good and it's worth it. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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Left: Hardcover - Right: E-Book

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands Chris Bohjalian 4.5 / 5	Published July 8, 2014 First Sentence "I built an igloo against the cold out of black plastic trash bags filled with wet leaves."
Publisher's Description: A heartbreaking, wildly inventive, and moving novel narrated by a teenage runaway, from the bestselling author ofMidwives and The Sandcastle Girls. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the story of Emily Shepard, a homeless girl living in an igloo made of garbage bags in Burlington. Nearly a year ago, a power plant in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont had a meltdown, and both of Emily's parents were killed. Devastatingly, her father was in charge of the plant, and the meltdown may have been his fault—was he drunk when it happened? Thousands of people are forced to leave their homes in the Kingdom; rivers and forests are destroyed; and Emily feels certain that as the daughter of the most hated man in America, she is in danger. So instead of following the social workers and her classmates after the meltdown, Emily takes off on her own for Burlington, where she survives by stealing, sleeping on the floor of a drug dealer's house, inventing a new identity for herself, and befriending a young homeless kid named Cameron. But Emily can't outrun her past, can't escape her grief, can't hide forever-and so she comes up with the only plan that she can.
Dear Reader, Despite my love for his other books, this might be my favorite Bohjalian book yet. I started reading it only a few days ago, and was worried I wouldn't finish it before its release date. But I ate it up! It was so engaging. (I picked up this ARC when attending the Connecticut Library Association's annual conference back in April. Chris Bohjalian spoke in front of a packed room, and I was lucky enough to snag one of two remaining galleys.) This book is the story of Emily, whose parents have supposedly caused a nuclear power plant's meltdown in her hometown. This means that not only is Emily suddenly orphaned, she is also left homeless, with nowhere to turn. On top of all this, and what might have been the most heart-wrenching part for me, Emily also worries that her dog has been abandoned, trapped in the family house, and is starving to death. Being a dog lover, this part especially hit home for me. However, as it is the story of a teenage girl from New England, it really was quite an easy story for me to relate to. Emily Shepard's life sounded much like my own, growing up. (Luckily, though, I did not have to deal with alcoholic parents!) Emily is a very strong, independent character, which I loved. She is constantly uncertain about her future, but manages to take care of herself - and later, also a nine-year-old boy. I use the term "take care of" loosely, as Emily resorts to many unsavory acts in order to survive the cold Burlington, VT winter. But she has such a personality! And despite her insecurities, she really does have a great sense of herself and engages in some wonderful self-reflection throughout the book. She is very self-aware, especially for a sixteen year old. Emily's idol is the poet Emily Dickinson, which I found a really interesting direction for the author to go, particularly since Dickinson is rather "dated" in the eyes of today's youth, I believe. But I like the way the main character was constantly comparing her life to the poet's, and in many ways trying to emulate her famous namesake. She went so far as to adopt the new name "Abby Bliss" when she needed to go incognito: this being the name of Dickinson's best friend. The whole setup worked really well. I wondered at times whether Bohjalian determined the name of his protagonist because of the poet, or whether he linked the poet up with his teenage hero only after she had already come to be. I don't want to give away too much, so I won't talk at length about what actually happens in the story. The book really does a great job at looking both forwards and backwards in time: Emily/Abby explains that she has trouble staying on track and not straying from her linear timeline.  I thought that was a great touch. Bohjalian definitely knows teen girls (although during his talk at the CLA, he mentioned how much he leaned on his own teenage daughter for help with voice and especially slang!), and I would equate his ease with the main character's voice to that of Wally Lamb. Both authors craft such real stories: you almost feel as if you know their characters personally. I will probably be recommending this book highly for the next few months, to anyone who will listen!  Haha. I would caution that it's maybe a little bit adult, as there is mention of drugs, prostitution, and self-mutilation, but a teenager with a good head on his or her shoulders should be fine with the content; there is very little that is explicit, as far as I can recall. Definitely check out this innovative & imaginative story - like me, you may spend half the time wondering what you would do if such a nightmare scenario happened in your hometown! Yours, Arianna

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