My Abandonment

This is why I read! As told from the honest, engaging perspective of a thirteen-year-old, Peter Rock pulls the reader into a rich, haunting world. This masterpiece flows from beginning to end. The characters mature and develop or, in the case of Father, deteriorate with subtle perfection. The story is beautifully set and flawlessly told. All the praise from the other reviewers is well deserved. Buy the hardcover. You will want to keep this one and re-read again and again.

Peter Rock's exquisite novel, "My Abandonement" tells a story of connections lost and found, imagined and real, in the voice of Caroline, a fourteen year old girl, living in an Oregon nature park, with the father she adores. Because Caroline is a child and because she cannot know all of the stories she witnesses or inhabits, Rock has the very difficult task of staying true to Caroline's true voice and yet allowing we readers to come to know more completely the truth of her existence. Harper Lee's Scout Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the rare characters whose authenticity is unquestionable and whose voice dances between pretenatural knowing and expected unknowing and Caroline is now part of that pantheon. I rarely recommend books with the fervor I feel towards "My Abandonment." But I have to say that Rock amazed me -- truly -- with his ability to evoke place, time, and, most important, character in this novel. Like Scout, Caroline knows a great deal about what is going on around her and yet also, like Scout, she is not yet ready to understand it. Moreover, Rock evokes her world -- where tree climbing is easy, where wind may trick her, where rock may choose to roll down a hill, in an utterly believable manner. For those of us who loved "To Kill a Mockingbird," this book is a necessity. The story Rock tells here works on many levels and yet his careful and crystalline prose makes the narrative easy to read. I strongly recommend Rock's novel, and predict that he has the potential, the craft, and the clarity of vision to be a major 21st century writer.

A very good book that actually becomes eerie when you read the acknowledgements and see where Peter Rock got his inspiration for this mesmerizing story. Thirteen year old Caroline lives with her father in a large nature preserve on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. Her father, whom doesn't really have a name, has built them a very inhabitable structure that seems to fit their most basic needs. They travel to town from time to time for supplies and to pick up a monthly check from their post office box. Nothing could be simpler, except for the fact that they must not bring attention to themselves, must not look like they are traveling together and they must avoid the police at all times. Told from the perspective of Caroline, the reader is introduced to what appears to be a typical teen. Caroline wants friends, but isn't allowed to have them, she wants to go to school, but must make due with the encyclopedias and dictionaries and an occasional book from the library. She lives a very quiet sheltered life with father. Then one day the bottom falls out of her world, what she thought was real isn't, what she thought of as home doesn't exist and slowly the truth is revealed and Caroline must make a new life for herself. But when you don't know who you were supposed to be, how can you make a new life that isn't on the margins. Peter Rock has a true gift for putting you right in the middle of the story, for making a nightmare believable and for showing you a side of humanity that you desperately wished didn't exist.

This is a poignant coming of age tale from the point of view of a young captive girl who doesn't know she's a captive. Taken from her foster family by her war vet father, they live a transient adventure moving from cave to cave to abandoned building and ever onward to avoid "the followers" who "don't understand" and strive to separate them. She is very intelligent, but lacks the skills to socially integrate, learning not only wilderness survival skills from her father, but his paranoia and social quirks, as well. This book is a peak into the harsh realities of life on the fringes of society and the mindset of those who can not mainstream with those who consider themselves "normal". It is sad and heartbreaking as well as eye opening. If you have ever wondered why a victim of kidnapping doesn't try to run away or doesn't turn against her attacker, this book will provide you with perspective as to how that can happen. It is a fascinating, unusual, and heart-wrenching read.

"My Abandonment" is a fascinating and surprising novel--a quick and engrossing read. I was captivated from the start about the lives of this father-daughter duo living, ostensibly undetected, in a large nature park near Portland, OR. In "My Abandonment" Caroline relates the story of their doings together and her thoughts and feelings in a matter-of-fact stream of words--sometimes run-on sentences, sometimes fragments--which underscore the strange existence that they have. I enjoyed reading about there adventurous life in the woods. And yet all is not well in paradise; Dad is just a tad TOO suspicious...it becomes apparent that this is not just an "alternative lifestyle" choice, but a life fraught with fear and mounting paranoia. He suffers from terrible nightmares and even waking flashbacks from the war he served in, centering on helicopters, a sign of PTSD. In forest park, they are super-careful not to get caught; one gets a sense of paranoia already from the start. They do venture out into town in order to pick up his disability checks at the P.O., and to get groceries, but with elaborate preparations to avoid attention and detection. Caroline seems well-adjusted, a brave, smart little lady: 14 years old, on the brink of young-womanhood, having lived as a jungle child the past four years. From her father she learns the lessons of a hidden life; from herself she learns to be resourceful, growing her own hidden vegetable garden to supplement their diet. She seems totally devoted to her dad, yet she has a burning curiosity about the life beyond their sheltered world among the trees. She "accidentally" makes a mistake--ever so small--that leads to the discovery of their cave-house by a jogger and subsequently they are removed from the shelter of their world by the police, incarcerated then questioned, tested and "studied". And then a "miracle" occurs. A well-to-do farmer/rancher hires Father as a helper and provides Father and daughter a clean, equipped bunkhouse, with all the amenities of civilization to live in. Those who brought them here never ask them if they want this new life; they are just sure that they will like it, and that they will be extremely grateful. Father doesn't seem to mind the work, but he also doesn't seem to like people coming and giving them more "stuff", and having to fit in and live they way others expect. He feels trapped. His behavior becomes increasingly irrational, his paranoia mounts, and he must escape. Caroline follows "Father" on his crazy, paranoid wanderings through many bizarre twists and turns, and she remains loyal and devoted to him. Finally, though, she must find her own sanity and make her own peace with the "real" world. How she survives and learns to adapt to life in a larger world is both interesting and poignant.