My Abandonment

My Abandonment, by Peter Rock; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 2009

Reviewed by Jennifer Nielsen

I highly recommend My Abandonment--Peter Rock's insightful and engaging novel. This is the first book I've read in which the main characters are a homeless father and daughter. The two have created an elaborate, functioning shelter in a cave, and make occasional, wary ventures into the 'civilized' world. But one small mistake turns their makeshift existence upside down. I also enjoyed J.R. Moehringer's Tender Bar, an interesting memoir about a boy growing up with an eccentric (but loveable) family and group of friends in Manhasset, New York, near where my husband grew up in Port Washington on Long Island. If you are looking for another engaging, interesting (however depressing) read, try The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. This novel of World War II Germany is focused on a foster child, Liesel, from the point-of-view of "Death".