Alone

Product Information

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE, LIFE CAN CHANGE IN A MATTER OF SECONDS…..PEOPLE TAKE THEIR FIRST AND LAST BREATHS. CARS CRASH, PLANES PLUNGE INTO OCEANS. THE HEALING PROCESS CAN BEGIN WITH A SIMPLE GESTURE” A couple of years ago I was reading a true crime book with short stories and in there I read about this girl. Then I googled and discovered this book which has been on my wish list for a few years. Okay, lovelovelovelovelove. That’s it. Loved it. Thanks to Michelle for putting this one on my radar. I feel like I myself made new best friends in Meredith and her friend group after finishing this one 4.5 Stars and rounding up because I can. Meredith, Alone is a book about courage, hope, friendship, and healing. Meredith’s recovery isn’t easy, yet I felt invested in her story and in every step she took to heal. The pacing of the book is a bit slow but that makes sense for this vulnerable story, and I think it leads to an ending that’s both realistic and positive. Alone is a true story about an 11-year old girl who goes on a sailing trip in 1961 with her family and becomes the sole survior of a gruesome crime at sea. The skipper has killed everyone else on board the boat, has sabotaged the boat, leaving it to sink with young Terry Jo aboard, and escapes in a small motorized dingy. Terry Jo manages to retrieve a flimsy cork-and-canvas float from the ship right before it sinks. She floats upon the vast Carribean Sea for four days and nights without food or waters. A Greek frieghter miraculously sights her and pulls her aboard, tettering on the verge of death. She survives, but the skipper commits suicide when he discovers that she has survived.

This was a wonderful tale, the verse works well in this. It showcases her loneliness, determination/grit, and strength during her journey to survive and carve out a life for herself.

This is such a raw, honest look at the effects trauma can have on people and how they can learn, grow, and heal through even the most difficult things. Highly recommended! I am making it sound a lot more fun than it is. It is an hour of people creeping cautiously through woods and startling at sounds we cannot hear. And then lying awake all night telling us how frightened they feel. It is very boring watching people be scared by noises.

I listened to the audiobook version of Merideth Alone which is narrated by Freya Mavor. This is the first book I've listened to that she narrated and she did an excellent job. I learned that this is the first adult book written by Claire Alexander as she typically writes children's books. Claire did an excellent job and I look forward to seeing what the future brings for her! I tend to really enjoy novels in verse, but also feel a little bit inadequate reading them? Does this happen to anyone else? Just me? This may be due in part to the fact that it was written in verse. It took me by surprise, and while I wasn't expecting it, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. And it's not that I'm averse to novels in verse (see what I did there?😂), because I've read them before and really loved them. It's just that they do really strange things to the narrative that you're hearing. I'm not exactly sure why, but I've just noticed that the way I perceive novels written like this is totally different than how I perceive one normally. And it changes book to book depending on how those verses are written. In this case, the verses made me feel less apart of the narrative. I felt like an outsider looking in.This book was interesting. But also good. The only reason I noticed it and wanted to read it was because it was nominated for the goodreads choice award for middle grade novels. So I read this and Unplugged, because those were the two that seemed interesting to me. I was expecting to like this one better, just from the descriptions, but I think I ended up liking the other one best. It almost feels this story is more about Harvey, then the victims. Yes, eleven yr old Terry Jo did survive this terrible crime and time alone at sea. She recounts what she can remember the night about her family’s murder….but there is nothing about the 4 days at sea. The main reason I love verse novels is because they so perfectly capture the raw emotion of the characters. This is what makes Alone so stunning. In just a handful of words, Megan captures Maddie’s despair, loneliness or horror. We know how she feels, what she’s thinking and what she fears. Alone is an emotional- rollercoaster that leaves you feeling exhausted but satisfied. Meredith is lovely. I instantly liked her character and the way she works. You can relate to her, like she is a friend you can trust. Despite her agoraphobia she tries to be there for Sadie and her new online friend Celeste. She has a good heart.

Meredith has not been outside her home in 1214 days. She is content with her choices and enjoys her life for the most part. She has a remote job, a solid friend named Sadie, and a lovely cat Fred. As the story progresses, we learn more about Meredith's past and why she is at home.The hero of Hamsun’s Pan is far heartier and better equipped for the loner’s life than poor Jane: Lieutenant Thomas Glahn lives securely as a hunter in the woods, strengthened by his military training and protected by his sweet dog, Aesop. The idyllic, north Norwegian forest is a haven to him, and Glahn’s knowledge of every berry and blossom makes his life lush, in spite of his loneliness. This book is an anthem for how to live well in the wild – until love visits the lieutenant’s cabin and leaves him wanting more than his own company. Unlike self-scrutinising Jane, Thomas fails to examine his own moral centre, and the sudden onset of desire destroys his only way of being. No reason to panic though because a helicopter with her parents is on it's way to save her, and it's safe for people to come home. The emergency that this entire book hung on is cleared up in 1 paragraph Maddie wants a night to herself, or at least to herself and her friends. She doesn't want to babysit. She doesn't want to deal with her step-parents. She just wants to relax, eat junk food, and sleep too late. So she and her friends come up with a plan to sneak out and stay at her grandparent's empty apartment. But, when the night comes, her other friends have to bail and she ends up alone. Too nervous to tell her parents about her lie, she decides to stay by herself. And this decision will change everything. Compare the Maddie at the start of the book to the Maddie at the end. How has she changed? How is she still the same? Give specific examples from the novel to support your answers.

Meredith Maggs is a one-of-a-kind character whose current world encompasses the inside walls of her home. She hasn't left her nest in 1,215 days and she's perfectly happy right where she is, doing all the things she normally does every day. There are reasons why Meredith hasn't gone through her front door to the outside world in over three years. Let's call them: 'Meredith Reasons'. When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned. My thoughts: I found Alone to be a compelling read. Yes, you will have to suspend your disbelief a bit--no more than you would in say Life As We Knew It--but it is still a good way to spend an afternoon. The premise is certainly a haunting one: that of all people vanishing "without a trace" and you being left behind on your own.

In the middle of the night there is a forced evacuation. Maddie's dad assumes she is with her mom; her mother assumes she is with her dad. And Maddie is left behind, alone and stranded in her town in Colorado after everyone else has fled. There are no cell phones and within a few days, no electricity. With only her neighbor's dog for company, Maddie has to learn how to survive. But she soon realizes that it isn't just her physical needs that she will have to contend with. She will also have to figure out how to be alone in the world. Meredith is an endearing character who is brilliantly written. She has created a good life for herself despite very difficult past events. It’s really easy for readers to want to know more about her, to cheer for her, and to sympathize with her. While reading, I wanted to hug her and be friends with her. I liked the connection that Maddie had to her family and the ways she tried to preserve those connections even while she was alone. It was so sweet that she had the dog with her, too. I really liked him and that they took care of each other. I am not inclined to call this a novel, as the cover suggests. But that is just me -- please do not mind me, and consider how many readers were pleasantly surprised by this road-to-recovery story. Did it remind me of Eleanor Oliphant? Certainly: particularly when it comes to the verbally abusive mother figure and forms of trauma. But that did not necessarily help here. I remember rating Honeyman's novel 4 stars, but its lasting impression -- perceived in hindsight, of course -- suggests something more than that, if not all the stars. I wasn’t ready for this book and, at the same time, I’m glad I read it. It’s raw, it’s vulnerable, and it’s full of hope.