Kathryn Gossow

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Taking Baby for a Walk

Thank you to Henry Roi for providing me with a copy for an honest review!

Bree-Anna does not come from a happy home. Her mother spends her nights with various men and her brother likes to play mean tricks. On the morning of her friend’s birthday party, she decides to take her baby doll for a walk to her friend's house. She isn’t quite sure where the house is, but she has a good guess which direction to walk in. But along the way, a man pulls over to the side of the road and offers to drive Bree-Anna to the birthday party. Choosing to trust a stranger, she steps into the car and is abducted.

Taking Baby for a Walk is not for the faint of heart. As a child who has grown up in a neglectful home, Bree-Anna uses her baby doll to project emotions. This alone broke my heart because you can see the way she is treated at home reflected in how she treats her doll. But when she is abducted, Bree-Anna’s experience is terrifying to witness through her eyes.

Please be aware there is violence toward Bree-Anna. This is a hard story to follow because of the emotional weight it carries. While Taking Baby for a Walk has an overall dark tone, the writing style does not become grotesque or over-detailed. If it did I would not have been able to finish it. Kathryn Gossow has tackled a disturbing and horrifying subject with deft writing skills.

As the investigation for Bree-Anna’s disappearance ensues, different storylines will weave together showing how various families involved with the young girl are interconnected. Seeing other families struggle with their burdens and come to terms with what has happened to Bree-Anna allows readers a break from the intensity of Bree-Anna’s point of view. It also creates a balance of tension and suspense as scenes are cut short and readers are left hanging on the edge waiting to see what has happened.

If you enjoy thrillers with heavy emotional scenes and loads of suspense, Taking Baby for a Walk should be your next read.… (más)

I'm wondering how to adequately express how much I enjoyed this short story collection.
Kathryn Gossow writes beautifully. Her characters stay with you, real and raw. On that note, Cassandra makes a welcome reappearance (see my rave Goodreads review of the author's YA novel Cassandra https://bit.ly/2EqhCD5).
The stories in this collection weave together, mostly linked by a common character yet distinct in theme. Insightful and disturbing, they'll leave you satisfied but uncomfortable.
If you read no other story, read The Hunger. It is perfection.… (más)

'She dreams of plane crashes, earthquakes, tsunamis, bloody coups. She dreams of the stallion sweeping down the hill ... . P. 197'.

Early on in this book, author Kathryn Gossow had instilled into me as a reader a sense of 'foreboding'. But like Cassie trying to clarify her visions, I struggled to discern what the feeling of impending doom was about? Would it concern Paulo, or Athena, or a secret in the family, or Cassie herself? The possibilities thicken and darken and thunder down on Cassie's life like the ominous horse in her nightmares.

Cassandra: A princess of Troy and priestess of Apollo. She was cursed to utter true prophecies but to never be believed.'(Wiki)

Cassie seems like an ordinary girl who gets bitten by a snake on a farm in Queensland. Her little brother predicts a drought, she grows to be a grumpy teenager troubled by visions, she scowls at her mother in the ordinary teenage way, she worries about her great-aunt and her Poppy .. Wait a minute. Bitten by a snake? Visions? Her brother foretells a drought?

'The Snake: Some versions of the legend have Cassandra falling asleep in a temple, where the snakes licked her ears so that she could hear the future. According some versions, Cassandra had a brother Helenus. Like her, Helenus was always correct whenever he had made his predictions, but he was believed.' (Wiki)

She clumsily attempts to fit in with the cool kids, she experiments with alcohol and dope, her visions worsen. She tries to make one true friend, Athena, who introduces her to the Tarot. ('Her thoughts swirl with colour and the patterns and the meanings of the cards'. P. 77). She 's keen on a boy named Paulo .. Wait, wait. Athena? And 'Paulo' .. or 'Apollo'? Didn't Apollo's priestesses take hallucinogens to enhance their visions?

'Apollo: Many versions of the myth relate that Cassandra incurred the god Apollo's wrath by refusing him sex, after promising herself to him in exchange for the power of prophecy.' (Wiki).

What if you could foresee people's futures, for instance, that one kid on the school bus will die of bowel cancer, another will briefly shine on the stage but never become famous? A wonderful ability, yes? What if you fill with dread but you cannot make out why. Your visions swirl without a clear meaning. The Thing happens. You feel guilty. If you had warned people, and if they had believed you, surely you could have diverted the accident or illness or mistake from happening. Is this a 'super-power' or a curse?

This can be read is a 'coming of age' novel in the sense in that it concerns teenage insecurities and self-doubts, the cruel cut and thrust of cliques and friendships, and the tensions within families. But I think you will also soon be reading it, as I did, mindful of the big questions about fate and destiny, and mulling over the extent to which every one of one's own decisions cuts away previous possibilities and opens up lines of new one.… (más)

This book was amazing. I was immediately drawn in to Cassie's world, the vivid imagery and breadth of detail allowing me to see and feel as she did. It was like I was watching it all unfold right in front of me. Not only does Cassie have to cope with all the usual stresses involved in being a teenager, she has obscure visions and dreams of the future. I was particularly enthralled by the way the visions were described, seeing their immediate effect on Cassie, and how they were regarded by those around her. Unlike her brother's perfect ability to predict weather changes, her visions are difficult to interpret and slippery to pin down. Betrayal and tragedy strike, pushing Cassie to her utmost limits, and it is up to her to seize back control of her destiny.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is or ever has been a teenager. They will not be disappointed.… (más)