Author: Katherine Forbes Riley
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Publish Date: June 5, 2019
Source: PR
What's the Story?:
From Goodreads.com: "She transfers from her busy city university to a small college in rural Vermont, where she retreats into her vivid imagination, experiencing the world through her art. Most comfortable in the company of the child for whom she babysits, and most at ease in the woods, Laurelie has shunned any connection with her peers.
One day, while exploring the woods, she and her young charge encounter an injured pregnant bobcat – and the hiker who has been following it for hundreds of miles. In the hiker and his feline companion, Laurelie recognizes someone as reclusive and wary as herself. The hiker, too, finds human companionship painful to endure, yet he is drawn to wounded Laurelie the way he is drawn to the bobcat.
As Laurelie moves toward recovery and reconnection she also finds her voice as an artist, and a sense of purpose, maybe even a future, comes into sight. Then the child goes missing in the woods, threatening the bobcat, the hiker, and the fragile peace Laurelie has constructed."
My Two Cents:
"The Bobcat" is the story of Laurelie, a young woman, who upends her entire life after suffering a sexual assault. She just wants to feel safe again and leave everything behind. She runs to a small Vermont town where she hopes to be fully ensconced in classes. When she takes on a job watching the son of a school official, it will change the course of her life.
I really enjoyed this story! The characters are great. Laurelie starts out not wanting to put herself out there. She is content to live in the small, isolated cabin that she is renting. She throws herself into work and the care of her young charge. I really felt for her reading what she had to go through. The way that the author writes her plight and her feelings and flashbacks really got to me. The secondary characters are great as well like the hiker who shakes Laurelie's life up when he enters. The chemistry between them is oh-so-good and really great to read. I really enjoyed seeing their relationship unfold.
While I loved the story, I really enjoyed the writing of the book. Riley definitely has a unique way of writing and it really carried the story. One thing that I noticed is that at first the author really does not use any other characters' names in the book. It was a really interesting choice and by my own interpretation, it felt like it signified Laurelie not wanting to interact with the world. It is easier for her to refer to others as the child or the bobcat or the hiker. Giving things or people names feels much more personal and she is not ready for that when the book opens as she is struggling with her own memories. The writing is also really lovely in many places throughout the book such as when the author is describing the woods that surround Laurelie.
This was a great book and I really am looking forward to seeing what else the author writes!
Thank you for the review. The book was new for me.
ReplyDelete