Customer Reviews

Night Road

5 star:		(157)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I thought the author's writing style was very descriptive and vivid. Her tone was conversational and engaging.

Night Road introduces us to a young woman named Alexa "Lexi" Baill, who was a product of a heroin addicted mother. She was in and out of various foster homes until a great-aunt named Eva Lange came to claim her. I knew this book would leave me in tears when Lexi met her great-aunt for the first time and said "If you keep me, you won't regret. I swear it." I knew then that this young woman was going to captivate me.

After four days in her new home in Port George, Washington, she makes her first friend Mia Farraday, an outcast, like herself. Mia was the twin sister of Zach Farraday, a popular jock who dragged Mia along in order to try to help her fit in. Soon the three of them become a packaged deal of sorts, going everywhere together, and sleepovers at the Farradays etc.
Jude Farraday became the mother that Alexa always wanted, but never had. Jude Farraday was slightly neurotic when it came to parenting. She insisted on walking her high school kids to their lockers, checking home work, chaperoning all school dances etc.
This book weaves a story about teenagers pushing boundaries, learning responsibilities, making choices and living with the consequences of those choices. It was heart wrenching when I realized that they were going to drive home drunk that fateful night. I knew the consequences would be quite severe and it was.

I loved the easy friendship between Mia and Lexi--the way they accepted each other after experiencing so many rejections in life. I loved how Zach and Lexi fell in love and how Mia ultimately accepted their love. I also loved how hard Zach worked at protecting Mia in all things. This book is about relationships with siblings, parents, and lovers. It reminds me that sometimes in life one bad decision can completely alter the path of your future. Drinking and Driving is always a bad choice, but forgiveness can be a healing comfort.

The author told a wonderful story about acceptance, love, anger, loss and ultimately forgiveness. I was rooting for everyone. I really think Miles Farraday and Eva Lange and the attorney Scott were the unsung heros in this book. I don't want to give it all away but they were the supporting cast that held the primary characters together.

I LOVED THIS BOOK and I wish I could give it more stars

When I first heard of this book a few months back, I just knew I had to read it. The premise sounded amazing, the cover was eye-catching, and Kristin has received plenty of praise. Therefore, when the chance finally came to read Night Road, I jumped right in, devouring it in one long sitting, as Night Road was simply fantastic. Full of likeable and complex characters, star-crossed romance, and tension, this one read had me flipping the pages as fast as humanly possible.

Night Road tells the story of Lexie Baill and the Farraday family. For Jude Farraday, her whole life has been dedicated to her family- specifically her two twins Zach and Mia. However, while Zach is the king of his grade, Mia has always failed to the wayside. Everything changes when Lexie moves to town during the twin's freshman year of high school, though. Scared yet brave, Lexie quickly finds herself part of the Farraday family- another daughter to Jude, a best friend to Mia, and possibly "something more" to Zach. As the years continue, the bond only grows strong...until one horrific accident. Faced with sudden and bone chilling tragedy, everything changes between them all, landing one in jail and the rest in emotional distress. Will they all be able to begin living again? Will they be able to forget and move on before it is too late to do so? Will everything get worse or better in the end? Only time and more pages will tell in this heart wrenching tale of love, hope, and forgiving as well as moving on.

Out of everything in this book, I have to say the characters are most likely my favorite aspect. Complex yet loveable, the main characters found in this one where one is who stories caught me from the very first page and kept me until the very last. Specifically, I loved the bonds that developed as the novel progressed. Ones between family, friends, and boyfriends/girlfriends- all were present and in full string. There was the one between Mia, Zach, and Lexie. Complicated as it was, it was easy to see just how much these three loved and adored each other and how far they would go to make the others happy. There was also the one between families, showing how while love is important, sometimes it cannot save everything. However, the thing I loved most about these characters was that they were real. Lexie, Zach, Mia, Jude, and Miles all made mistakes, but they learned from them and improved upon them- even if it did take a long time to do so. More importantly, when faced with tragedy, they grew strong, though in a way that was believable.

Moving on, another part of Night Road I found enjoyable was the plot and the execution. Full of twists and turns to keep nearly any reader enthralled with the story at hand, I truly never lost interest, not even once. As I was constantly rooting for the characters on their journey's, sitting on the edge of seat, eating up every word, curious to see what road block would pop up next.

Making everything even better was Kristin Hannah's writing. Hannah is one talented storyteller to say the least. She knows how to balance the sad scenes with the funny scenes. More importantly, she knows how to not only bring the characters to life, but also have the reader become dedicated to their stories.

Nearly perfect, reading Kristin Hannah's Night Road is the perfect way to spend a day, in my opinion. Though, word of warning: this is one story you will need a box of tissues for it, as it left me- miss-never-ever-cry-with-about-book-tearing up in some spots.

Lastly, while this book is technically labeled as adult, it still has plenty of great crossover appeal because the majority of the story takes place in Lexie's voice when she is a teen.

Grade: A+

This is a difficult book to categorise. Amazon classifies it as a physiological thriller, but there's little suspense and no spine-tingling action here. The promo blurb proclaimed it to be haunting, which is a bit of an overstatement. Still, Night Road is an engrossing read; I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it.
The narrative is told from two different viewpoints, one an orphan teenage girl, the other an upper-class overprotective mother. As a result, the book reads like a cross between chick lit and young adult romance.

The storyline covers a lot of territory, touching on friendship, familial bonds, parenting, underage drinking, premarital sex, justice, recompense, debilitating grief, and forgiveness. Such a plethora of topics, combined with a polished writing style and vivid characters, make Night Road an appealing choice for book clubs.

Unfortunately, it's pretty obvious from the first chapter how the plot will pan out: A friendship is strained by a secret love and then there's a tragic accident. It feels like one of those old after school specials

I had a hard time relating to many of the characters. The Farraday family comes across as shallow silver spooners. The mother in particular is grating. Indulgent and yet controlling of her children, she ends up being vindictive and completely self-centred, traits that are also evident in her children.

A good portion of the book deals with devastation and on-going grief. Kristin Hannah handles the subject matter skilfully and compassionately. However, the fairy tale ending feels completely wrong. It's far too simplistic, which is a real letdown after all the story's emotional complexity.

Oh my goodness ~ This is, by far, the best book I have read in a l-o-n-g time! I absolutely could not put it down. Not only was the story captivating, it is the WAY Hannah writes that is superb. Only one example of several in the book: "Why is it that pebbles look like boulders until they were in your rearview mirror?" The writing flows and the reader feels every range of emotion from extreme sorrow, bitterness and despair to cautious joy with redemption, abounding hope and optimism for the future. Don't miss this one. Do I hear movie, anyone? Perfection!!

When I purchased it, this book came up as the 67th bestselling book in Amazon's Mystery/Thriller category. I have no idea why. There is no mystery here, and certainly nothing thrilling. I don't even think it merits the designation "Adult Fiction." It is better classified as Teen Romance. Want to drown in an ocean of crass sentimentality? This book will do it--non-stop, cover to cover.

The plot is as predictable as it is hackneyed. Lexi (Loser Teen Girl #1) befriends Mia (Loser Teen Girl #2), who has a Hunky Teen Brother, Zach. During High School both Loser Girls turn into gorgeous swans. Loser Girl #1 and Hunky Bro fall in love, are separated by "tragedy" for a number of years, but "true love" prevails for a cloyingly sweet, "happily-ever-after". Parallel to this vapid teenybopper romance is what's meant to be the redemption story of Jude, mother to Loser Girl #2 and Hunky Bro. The problem is there's no redemption here. Jude remains the same self-absorbed and shallow Psychomom throughout until the very end when the author sprinkles magic fairy dust and--poof--Jude becomes Wondermom, the ideal mother and grandmother.

Only one character is remotely likeable: Eva, Lexi's aunt. Unfortunately, she's very secondary to the main cast and more or less disappears halfway through the book. Male characters are undeveloped, functioning only as stage props or foils for the female characters. The teen girls are so wholly spineless, one wonders how they manage to walk upright. They elicit about as much sympathy as an amoeba. Jude Farraday, Psycho/Wonder-mom, is too self-involved, too superficial, and way too whiny and overwrought for a reader to identify with. For crying out loud, she has 5 dense pages devoted to a jealous rant about her son, Hunky Bro, giving a promise ring to his girlfriend.

The writing itself is mediocre: I've read worse, but I've also read much better. If (as they say) newspapers are written at an 8th grade level, I'd say this is comparable. Whatever happened to the prime rule of fiction: Show, don't tell? Lots of telling here, with very little showing. There are some screwed-up usages that merit a laugh, such as "like boll weevils through corn" or my personal favorite, "the vibrant garden with the bearing of an icepick." To be fair, the author would have us understand that the last example pertains to Jude's mother, not Jude's garden, but I'm just repeating it as it is written. Favorite terms are over-used: I wish I had a dollar for every appearance of "expensive", "elegant", and "cashmere" in this book. There are more than a few instances where it seems the author couldn't keep track of her own timeline or her own story: is it the "kids" car or Zach's? Did Zach lose weight or gain? Who makes breakfast, Zach or Jude? I could go on ad infinitum, but that's enough to give you an idea.

To sum up, I don't think this merits being a "beach read" or a frothy novel to get one through an airplane ride. On the other hand, it just might be perfect as a treatment for insomnia.

Sarai

A little more sensationalized and over the top for Hannah. I didn't love the way she handled the subject matter. Jude, one of the main characters was just so ridiculously written and completely irritating. The Farraday family overall was so out of touch with regular folk it was laughable. Jude, the mother was sickening in her hovering, helicopter style of parenting. It literally seemed that her every action centered arouund trying to get her boy/girl twins to climb right back into her womb while simutaneously overeaching to be that "coolest" of parents whose house is where all the kids want to hang out. Enter reality check number one in the form of Alexa Baill, a motherless girl in and out of the foster care system, till her trailer park residing aunt takes her in. She immediately becomes Mia Farraday's best friend and the love of Zach Farraday's life. Jude tries to control all facets of these relationships, Her surgeon husband Miles pops in occasionally to humor her and pat her on the head like some clueless puppy whose heart is in the right place. Tragedy strikes and the whole happy clan is dismantled. Jude at first reacts accordingly then goes right off her nut and round the bend. Alexa bears the entire weight of the tragedy and pays a ludicrously high price for one very bad decision that she in no way shared alone. She however bears alone the role of scapegoat and is ruthlessly targeted by the ignorant out-for-bloods. Unrealistically, there were people not even mentioned that should have been made partly responsible for the tragedy. There were lots of competing themes emerging in one story so that it was a bit overwhelming. Unfortunately, the reader really isn't left with the true intent of the story.

Spoilers.......Spoilers...........Spoilers

This book pretends to be about love, and oddly enough the only ones who actually had pure, unselfish hearts were the "bad" one, the one who never had had a chance, the outcast, and her aunt, also one of the "have nots." The Farradays had everything, including toxic relationships with each other. Jude wasn't just a "helicopter mother," she was obsessive with running and arranging and controlling every SINGLE aspect of her children's lives. I don't know how Mia got out of bed in the morning without three people having to prop her up. I don't know how Jude thought she was going to manipulate people to be there for Mia throughout her adult life, but she would have tried. She went through the roof if her children did or thought anything that wasn't the way she planned it, including whether she would allow Mia and Lexi to be friends, warning Lexi not to hurt Mia, because "another friend had disappointed her and hurt her." GASP! or engineering both Zach and Mia going to the college Mia wanted, even though Zach didn't want to, because Mia "couldn't do it alone" or being furious that Zach and Lexi fell in love, putting a crimp in her plans. There was no way life was gonna hurt or disappoint HER children, by God! There was nothing that Jude did that I didn't find sickening, and enraging.

Then, the fateful night, when Jude's children got in THEIR car, drunk, refusing to call Jude "because they almost got grounded last time," oh the horror!!!...and Zach, who was the designated driver, also was drunk. Lexi was the least drunk, and was wrong to have tried to drive, but she was not the only one at fault in the accident. It was Zach and Mia's car, their car keys, and Zach had promised not to drink. Yes, Mia died after being thrown out of the car, not wearing her seatbelt, but Zach was able to go merrily about his life, fulfilling his dreams, raising his and Lexi's daughter, while Lexi sat in prison, paying with everything she had, every day of her life. Even after she had been crucified by everyone for "murdering" Mia, except for the one person she had in her life, her aunt, she managed to keep a loving heart., and a shred of hope. I really admired Lexi..she was so courageous and strong. Not ONCE was there any Farraday effort whatsoever to atone in any way for their parts in ruining Lexi's life. I can guarantee that had Zach or Mia been driving, and Lexi killed, it would have been unimaginably different in consequence. They wouldn't have been branded "murderer" and become a town pariah. They probably wouldn't have even seen the inside of a jail cell.

The book ends with Lexi out of prison, homeless with no job prospects, Jude opposing even supervised visits with her child, all her dreams destroyed, and then Zach wanders by, nearly out of medical school, with his life intact, and "takes Lexi back." The idea is sickening to me, after what he and his family had done to her, and everything they took from her, that she would just welcome him back with open arms. I thought that this book described the worst of people, that Jude was lightyears from being a "good" mother, that they were fine with ruining other people's lives if theirs were touched in any way, Zach's and Mia's emotionally crippled and self absorbed states, and that Lexi would have been so much better off if she had never known any of them. It also described the love Lexi had with her aunt Eva, who had nothing in the way of an easy life or material things, yet sheltered and loved Lexi, and was willing to sacrifice her life for her. It is too bad there wasn't alot more Aunt Eva and alot less Farraday.

I've read all of Kristin Hannah's books and enjoyed them. "Night Road" was darker, with tons of emotional issues, than her other books. It reminded me a lot of Jodi Picoult's writing (books with serious messages).

Throughout the book I kept having internal conversations with myself on 'how would I have acted in this situation', putting myself in each of the characters places. I know how I'd want to act and how I think I'd act and I hope if I'm ever tested I can follow through.

I was upset with the character of Jude, the mother, and how she responded to the disastrous events in the book. But do any of us know how we will really respond?

I thought the author did a superb job of looking at all the different sides of events and happenings and the story really made me think.

I have rarely read a novel with a main character that made me as angry as Night Road. While the author may have thought she was writing a heartfelt story about a family surviving a terrible tragedy and learning to live with it, what she really put before the reader was a narcissistic, self-indulgent, dangerous mother character who is particularly insidious because the novel bears no actual awareness of what this woman really is.

From the beginning, the mother, Jude, deals with her children as extensions of herself. They provide her identity and self-image, but dare they try to step out of her shadow to become their own person. While her grief and even her reaction at the hospital after the accident happens is understandable, that's where my compassion for her ends. She abandons her son at the one time in his life when he most needs her support and compassion. I would say she abandons her husband, but his continued insistence on letting her get away with ruining the family just made me see red. Worst of all, she sets out to ruin the life of the young woman who had to drive only because Jude's own son, though the designated driver, was blind drunk. He practically forced Lexi to drink two beers, while she demanded that he not get behind the wheel. This girl had an accident because Jude's own children were completely wasted and they were physically goofing around in the car, not because her alcohol level was one hundredth of a degree over the legal limit. In fact, Jude's own son was determined to get behind the wheel because of what he knew would be his mother's reaction after she lied to them before about being able to call for a ride without consequences.

But what made me angriest of all was what Jude set out to do to her grandchild. The kind of narcissism required to warp the mind of a six year old, to make her feel unloved and unlovable, is basically criminal.

This book made me angrier than another book I can remember. Even worse is the fairytale ending that has no depth of reality behind it, that's way too Hollywood. Don't believe it. Don't believe its message because the author has no idea what she has written.

I have read most of Kristin Hannah's books and loved them. Winter Garden was absolutely amazing. Firefly Lane was good because while the story line felt comfortable and familiar, the ending was unexpected and gratifying. Her other books...I've read many of them more than once. I was looking forward to Night Road and I wish I could say something good about it!

The story itself--three teenagers who become best of friends making their way through those tough teen years--is formulaic. Soon after I started reading the book, I suspected that eventually they would drink and one would drive and tragedy would follow (check!). One teen dies (check). Her family turns against the driver (check). And then the driver turns out to be pregnant (check!). The baby goes to live with her father (check). Circumstances change and by the end of the book, everyone realizes how much better off they were when they were together (check!). So they live happily ever after.

Authors can't be great every time they write a book...but this one was "phoned in." It could be any "young romance" by any author. I expect greatness from Kristin Hannah...and was sorely disappointed.