The Weight of Silence [Paperback]

Heather Gudenkauf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 28, 2009

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.

Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gudenkauf's tightly plotted debut packs a lot of unsavory doings into a few unfortunate summer days in Willow Creek, Iowa. Seven-year-old Calli Clark hasn't spoken a word in the three years since a particularly nasty run-in with her violent, wife-beating father, Griff. During a bender, Griff suddenly decides to haul his mute daughter into the nearby forest, where they get lost. At the same time, Calli's best friend Petra goes missing, and a manhunt is launched, led by deputy sheriff Loras Louis, who still carries a torch for Calli's mother. Gudenkauf moves the story forward at a fast clip and is adept at building tension. There's a particular darkness to her heartland, rife as it is with predators and the walking wounded, and her unsentimental take on the milieu manages to find some hope without being maudlin. (Aug.)
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Review

"Deeply moving and exquisitely lyrical, this is a powerhouse of a debut novel." -Tess Gerritsen "Beautifully written, compassionately told, and relentlessly suspenseful." -Diane Chamberlain "Gudenkauf moves the story forward at a fast clip and is adept at building tension." -Publishers Weekly" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira; Original edition (July 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 077832740X
• ISBN-13: 978-0778327400
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (201 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Heather Gudenkauf is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE. Heather lives in Iowa with her famiy and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Maxine. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, and running. She is currently working on her second novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Held my interest, but could've been better, September 18, 2009

By 

Karen Ferrero "A Bookworm from way back" (Morris, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Weight of Silence (Paperback)

The story line of this novel was good and I think the author had a good idea upon which to formulate a story. There were many smaller themes--small town life, childhood friendship, first loves, alcoholism and its effect on a family, etc. This story was told in pieces--both in present and in the past, recalled in the speaker's memories. I thought that was a fine vehicle to deliver this story and I also thought it interesting in whose voices the author chose to tell the story, and whose were not chosen. I will say, too, that I raced through this novel--anxious to find out what happened to the two little girls and who was ultimately responsible.

But beyond that, there were several shortcomings in the book, most of which have already been covered here by other reviewers.
The writing is very amateurish. I don't expect everything I read to be a literary work of art and I don't seek that out either. But the writing here was very basic and undeveloped. I don't even agree with the reviewer that said it is more of a Young Adult read, just because of the simplistic writing style. I also enjoy YA reads from time to time and it is not simpler and inexperienced writing that makes a book YA, and to say that insults those authors. In my opinion, this author is simply inexperienced.

The other thing that really annoyed me about this book is the viewpoints and different voices. I appreciate that the author took this on, but what bothered me is that each one did not really have their own voice at all. They each created their own stories, sure. But their language and vocabularies did not vary, despite the range in ages (from 7 years old to 57 years old!) or their education level (first grader up to a college professor / department head)! Even the backgrounds of these characters varied so greatly--some small town, some from Chicago, some law enforcement, some academic, to stay-at-home moms. Yet, their voices all read the same. Each one was not individual in their wording, phrases, and not consistent with their ages, vocabulary level, or background. I would think this would be the basic construct of a novel that is speaking from each of the different characters. So that makes me wonder, why even bother writing in this manner? This really bothered me, and apparently some of the other reviewers here as well.

I was a little disappointed in the character of Antonia, too. Overall, I can't say I liked this book as much as I WAS really interested in it and stuck with it to see the outcome. So in that respect, it is a success and that's why I gave it 3 stars. I doubt I would read another of Heather Gudenkauf's books.

81 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real nail-biter., July 29, 2009

By 

J. Heifner "readseverything" (Iowa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Weight of Silence (Paperback)

I was given the opportunity to read this book before its release and I have been telling everyone about it since. I found myself totally absorbed in the story and the characters. And like others, could not put it down. In fact I became so involved in the story that it felt like the search for the girls would stop if I didn't keep reading! The author did a great job of building the suspense, pulling me in and giving out just the right amount of information to keep me guessing. A "suspense" novel that truely is suspenseful.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A spellbinding novel, August 10, 2009

By 

E. Samuels "Book lover" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Weight of Silence (Paperback)

The Weight of Silence started out with a bang and kept me riveted throughout. Not only is the "whodunnit" part of the book enthralling in its own right, but the thought provoking issue of silence/secrets also kept me interested and thinking. The only problem I had with this book was the fact that the narrator changed from chapter to chapter, yet the voice of each narrator was not distinct, thus the multiple narrator format was less successful than it could have been.