Creepy. Really long drawn out. Disjointed. ( )

Alice und Boone sind zwei Geschwister. Ihr Vater hat vor kurzem die Familie verlassen. Die Mutter hat einen neuen Mann kennengelernt, Simon. Es stellt sich jedoch heraus, dass Simon ein despotischer, brutaler Mann ist, der die Kinder bedroht. Boone ist tiefgläubig und besessen von der jugendlichen Verbrecherin Persely, die ihre Eltern vergiftet hat, aber immer wieder aus der Nervenklinik ausbricht. Er schreibt ihr viele Briefe und versucht, mit ihr Kontakt aufzunehmen und ihr zu helfen. Die ganze Geschichte um Boone, Alice, ihre Mutter Meg, Simon und Persley ist aus der Sicht von Alice geschrieben.
Anfangs gefiel mir das Buch überhaupt nicht. Die Situation der Familie ist extrem bedrückend. Boones Verrücktheit nach Persley kommt im Buch unvermittelt und zunächst auch unglaubwürdig. Doch das Buch wird immer spannender. Spätestens mit dem Auftauchen Persleys in der Handlung wird es ein richtiger Pageturner. Die drei Kinder wachsen einem derartig ans Herz. Besonders mit Persley und Alice hat die Autorin zwei Mädchenfiguren geschaffen, die man am liebsten festhalten möchte. Das Ende hat mich sehr berührt.
Ich bin froh, dass ich nicht meinem Impuls gefolgt bin, das Buch nach der Hälfte nicht weiterzulesen. Denn es ist ein wirklich tolles Buch! ( )

I picked this up by chance at the library book sale last weekend and it was great. The book is about a twisted new stepfather who doesn't like his stepchildren very much (to say the least). It reminded me a bit of some of the evil stepfather movies I've seen but this had the added twist of one of the kids idolizing a teen girl who poisoned her parents who he constantly writes to in prison and tries to make contact with on one of her frequent escapes from a mental institution. Good creepy fun. ( )

I'm not sure in what genre this book would be classified, perhaps fantasy. I eventually gave up - there were simply too many unlikely personalities and occurrences to assimilate. ( )

How does God manifest himself in today’s world? Are violence and sorrow and pain evidence of His absence or His brutal ambivalence? Is faith in Him wasted in the face of personal tragedy? If God is love, how can He allow the world to devolve into calamity and pain?

Alice and Boone’s mother, Meg, seems to have invited a demon into their home. Simon Jester, the self-described megaphone for God, while expressing an endless and pure love for Meg, brutally mistreats her two teenagers. Boone suffers Simon’s abuse, losing himself in constant prayer to God, ever faithful that God will physically rescue him and his sister. Alice prays to more pagan gods of her own concoction for salvation, demolishing her most precious possessions and tossing their remains onto a backyard bush in supplication, a desperate act very similar to the physical ‘sacrifices’ inflicted upon her and Boone by the evil-minded and paranoid Simon. Certain that Simon intends to kill them, Boone and Alice run away with Persely Snow, a teenaged escaped convict who poisoned her parents.

Hepinstahl constructed the story for The Absence of Nectar almost as a parable to examine the redemptive power of love, a theme she focused on in her previous book, The House of Gentle Men. The construct both serves and detracts from her effort. While artfully posing broad questions, the parable relies on characters painted with coarse strokes, absent much subtlety. They emerge as mere cardboard cutouts of characters often used in such stories of redemption: the irrepressibly evil step-father; the dim, willfully blind mother; and the overly worldly, precociously wise teenagers.
Hepinstahl’s story, though, is a thought provoking and enjoyable read. What the character’s lack in subtlety, they make up for in eccentricity. And what the story lacks in depth, Hepinstahl makes up for with a deft and lyrical voice.

Though not overtly religious, the message of Hepinstahl’s book offers an answer to a theological conundrum: God manifests himself in the world today by transmitting His love through people. It is in the connections we make with our family and friends, the comfort and support we glean from these relationships that we find redemption, solace, and the power to survive. In the absence of that love, the spirit withers.

3 ½ bones!!! ( )