So, in my challenge of myself to read 100 books by my 21st birthday, I have read the book The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf. Now, I know I am not a literary master of writing or anything close to that, but I love books. I love good books, cheesy books, etc. So don’t take whatever I have to say as proof, because God knows I barely know what I think half the time.

But I decided if I was going to take the time to read all these books (which isn’t really a chore to me, and can be easily forgotten) I should somehow be accountable to my goal. Even if it is to my blog, which no one but me reads.

Oh well. Welcome to my life.

The Weight of Silence is written in a way that the point of view is different every chapter. I love when authors choose this style because it provides a more kind of 360 view of a story than you would with a one-person narrative. But I also like that if a character doesn’t see or hear something, we don’t hear about it in that chapter. Something will happen and a light bulb goes on, i.e. “That explains it!”. Anyway, that is not what I love the most about this book.

This book is heart-wrenching.Calli, the main protagonist, doesn’t speak. Her narratives are written in third person, as opposed to the rest of the book. She has a best friend named Petra, who, despite the fact that Calli is a selective mute, always seems to be there for Calli. But we don’t hear a lot from Petra. We do, however, hear from her father, Martin, because both Calli and Petra have gone missing in the woods behind their homes. Calli’s father, in contrast to Petra’s, is a mean drunk who frequently abuses Calli’s mother, Antonia. I really liked Antonia’s character because she has that kind of spunk that came from being a tomboyish girl in her younger days. She reminded me a lot of well, me. 

The storyline of this book can be a bit hard to follow in a few parts, only because with different voices telling the story, we don’t get to hear some of the information at some parts in the story. But, in my most humble opinion, that’s what leads to some of the suspense.

Overall, I felt that this book kept me on the edge of my well, bed.(Let’s face it, I can’t sit up and read..) I really loved this book. Read it if you get the chance. If not, well, you’re really missing out.