Saving Noah

REVIEW - SAVING NOAH BY LUCINDA BERRYI'm going to struggle to find the words to review this book....it was expertly written but will rip your heart out all at the same time... It's a book you will wish you didn't read, but be so glad you did 🤪So let's unpack it... Noah is a grade A student, wonderfully kindhearted, popular, sociable, and an excellent swimming competitor. Noah hides a dark secret that when is revealed, rips his perfect suburban family to pieces.The book is predominantly written from his mum's perspective. The only word I can find to describe Adrienne is desperate. Desperate to save her son from himself and the world that is so against him.This book by no means defends SA, but it will challenge everything you think you know about teen offenders. I initially described it as expertly written because I can identify that Lucinda Berry's psychology background has aided her in her writing. Followed by obvious research of the topic, we are lead to feel every one of Adrienne's suffocating breaths and heartstrings being pulled. We are lead inside the mind of Noah who seemingly so logically has his own fate sealed. It's sensitive, heavy and drives you into a perspective you may have never looked at before.This one is going to be on my mind for a while but as I said, it's absolutely excellently written.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⚠️TRIGGER WARNINGS ⚠️⚠️ Paedophilia⚠️Male rape⚠️Teen suicide attempts⚠️Assisted suicide⚠️Electric shock therapy

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Very well written and easy to read. There were a few spelling mistakes though, missed words, which I was surprised to see. The twist at the end was shocking. I was in awe of the love this mother had for her son. Unconditional until the end. I highly recommend it. I expected it to be disgusting, given the subject matter but it was thoughtful and considerate to victims.

Lucinda’s writing has you feeling every single word. Absolutely speechless. I read it in one day. Could not put it down. Thought provoking and disturbing. Like nothing I’ve ever read before!

🚨 Some spoilers included🚨🚨Trigger warnings: SA, Child SA, Suicide(I try to be as careful as possible to not delve too much into it🚨Honestly I don’t know what to say about this one. We follow Noah’s mum for the most part as she tries to support her son through his confession of having been inappropriate toward young girls he coached in swimming class. Noah’s dad disowns him, his little sisters too young to understand and his mum carries so much mum guilt that she isolates herself from all angles in order to support her son despite his actions. The twist was incredibly obvious and honestly made me feel just as disgusted as I was from the beginning.Did I cry? Yes because I felt that pain as I tried to put myself in the mums shoes and couldn’t imagine disowning my child but also couldn’t imagine anyone close to me doing such things so its definitely one to make you think which of course is the whole point.I can’t praise this book because the content made me sick to my stomach (I went into this blind and I don’t think I’d have picked it up had I known the context but I also couldn’t put it down once I got into It.)It was an experience, I won’t pick it up again, but I appreciate that Lucinda tackled such a sensitive subject.

I've read a lot of challenging and disturbing books in my time, but this one really broke me. It's not an enjoyable journey, but it's one of the best books I've ever read and was impossible to put down. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I turned the final page.It's an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. Anger, disgust, sympathy, deep sadness, empathy, frustration ... they're all there. One scene in particular, with Noah's little sister, made me close that book, set it down for a moment and cry. The innocence and pure love tainted by the vile nature of the subject was so unexpected and shocking it hit me like a truck. I don't think I've ever wanted to hug and comfort a character so badly in my life.It's a difficult read, and one that should be approached with caution, but I 100% recommend it to those who don't get triggered by the subject matter.