Anxiety-inducing, horrifyingly real, edge-of-your-seat action. What a story!! I read it several years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I'm sure I'll never forget this one. WOW.

Ugh. This book stunk. It was such a drag. The first 100 pages of the book could have easily been summed up in one chapter, if not one page.
I just could not get into a main character who admits to not loving her kids and then sits around sulking all the time. At one point she realizes she hasn't seen her kids in a month. What?!
I was hoping for a great ending- make it worthwhile to read the whole book, but I was let down.
I don't get how this made Oprah's list or how it was turned into a movie. What a depressing story. Ugh.

What a depressing book! I could actually say I have a lot in common with this book being
#1 a bereaved parent (although my child died, he did not disappear)
#2 being an adopted child who found and contacted the birth family as an adult and made an effort to fit into that family and have two families. I've been a quasi member of the birth family for years now, very quasi.
Three year old Ben, youngest member of a large Italian family from his father's side and Irish family from his mother's side, disappears from a crowded hotel lobby. His family tries to hold together but has a very hard time, no duh. When Ben is found 9 years later he is happily ensconced in the family of the woman who abducted him and has no memory of his birth family. The family is torn apart further.

I've noticed a lot of reviewers are critical of Beth, the mother of kidnapped Ben. Want to say, don't judge unless you have been in her shoes. My child died and I am a different person than I was. It took me about 6 years to rebuild the identity and personality I lost when my child died. How much worse would it be if you had no idea what happened to your child? If you could not know if they were in pain, what they might have suffered or might still be suffering; I think your life would be a waking nightmare. And she knew her husband and family blamed her for Ben's disappearance, she blamed herself. That kind of guilt must be completely crushing. Was she selfish? Yes. The little of her that was left after Ben disappeared had to be used to survive. That made her selfish. All her energies were devoted inwardly. The affair stuff, well... She had an interest in Nick before she lost Ben. I think that possibility was in her mind when she went to Chicago. Grief magnifies those things that are already wrong with a person. That she followed through on her interest is not that surprising. I was glad to see her struggle with it though, it seemed a very human and likely struggle to me. She is also blamed by reviewers for Vincent's problems. But Vincent's problem was guilt, much like his mother. He was not the person he was because his mother ignored him although I'm sure that did not help, he was that person because of guilt.

just can't read it... hits too close to home for me as a mom (a three year old is kidnapped) I had to read the ending to see if the kid is ever found alive. I tried skimming a few pages, but when I got to the part where they had to identify a small child in the morgue, I put the book down. I just can't do it.
yeah, I'm a puss.

This book had me hooked at first. I wanted so badly to find out what happened to the little boy who was kidnapped. Once I found out, the story went a little slow. I did like the fact that things did not automatically turn out like everyone expected (or maybe wanted) them to. Since I knew from Goodreads that this is book #1, I was not surprised that the last part of the book dragged and lots of things were sort of "to be continued." This book didn't hook me enough to ready book #2.

Hands down, one of my most favorite books ever. Superbly crafted by Ms. Mitchard, you become enveloped in this family that has the unspeakable happen: their child disappears. The day-to-day devastating depression that the author chronicles the mother going through and the impact of that depression on the rest of the family members indicates to me that this author had to have had some kind of experience with it or very close to first-hand knowledge. It just cannot be made up. Beth was not equipped to deal with what has happened, but who is? My take is that she punished herself, but unfortunately she also punished everyone else around her.

I loved the way the story pits "expectations" against "reality." Things don't get wrapped up neat and tidy. There are no easy answers. They just segue into a different day. How one feels doesn't change because of the circumstances. The feelings are still there so you have to really look inside yourself and decide how to move forward. I lent this book to quite a few friends, and they enjoyed it as well.

The movie version with Michele Pfeiffer was very disappointing, as she was not Beth at all. Horrible casting decision.

Slow start so took me a while to read but ended up loving it. Oprah’s first book club selection from 1996!

This is the type of book that deserves discussion. Why? Because there are so many points to be argued:
1. Was it Beth's fault her child was kidnapped?
2. Was it the oldest son's fault, because he let go of his brother's hand?
3. Can a marriage survive tragedy?
4. Do parents have to neglect the other children when something bad happens to one child?
5. Does the degree of "bad" justify the degree of neglect?
6. Should you stay in an unhappy marriage for the children's sake?

I could go on and on with discussion questions. And yes, this was a popular book club selection back in the day of its original printing, but now it's MANY years later, and a whole new group of readers can discover this "deep" (pun intended) book.

I don't usually read this type of book, and I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it, and yes the pages where Beth moped and moped irritated me, but the story was very compelling, and I had to keep reading.

The things I didn't like:
1. Vincent cussed way too much.
2. Beth's character was way too selfish.

Things I did like:
1. I couldn't put the book down, because I needed to know how everything would be resolved. Would Vincent be okay in the end? Did Beth and her husband have the capacity to be better parents to Ben than his "new" parents? Oh, see? Here I start with the questions again.
2. The way Mitchard represented the complex nature of parenting.

There was no violence in this book. So if you're hesitant to read it because you're afraid to read about a child being abused - don't worry. The kidnapped child is not abused. Now, the ones who remained in the home ... you could argue they were emotionally abused ... but that's another discussion point.

There are quite a few sex scenes, but you can easily skim or skip those if that bothers you (and the sex is only between adults - no kids involved).

There is a lot of cussing in this book. That bothered me - almost enough for me to lower the rating to four stars. Almost.

If you're in a book club, I recommend this as a choice. Great discussion potential.
2.

Ben a trois ans lorsqu'il disparaît. Sa mère, Beth Cappadora, l'avait emmené avec elle à Chicago - ainsi que son frère Vincent (7 ans) et sa soeur Kerry encore bébé - afin d'assister à une réunion d'anciens élèves de son lycée. Lorsque Ben disparaît dans le hall de l'hôtel bondé, le monde de Beth et Pat Cappadora s'effondre.
Vont s'ensuivre 9 années de descente aux enfers. Rien n'est et ne sera comme avant...Jusqu'au jour où un jeune adolescent ressemblant étrangement à Ben fait son apparition....


Premier roman de Jacquelyn Mitchard paru pour la première fois dans sa version originale en 1996 et réédité en français en ebook par les Editions des Deux Terres en Mai 2014, "Aussi profond que l'océan" nous fait vivre le cauchemar d'une mère voyant son enfant disparaître.... S'est-il perdu, a-t-il été kidnappé? Autant de questions qui resteront sans réponses pendant de nombreuses années malgré les efforts de la police. Véritable cauchemar pour l'ensemble de la famille, nous assistons à la descente aux enfers de cette femme qui va se retirer du monde convaincue que son enfant est là quelque part... mais aussi aux répercussions sur Vincent, son fils aîné...

"- S'il était mort, je le saurais. Une mère sait ces choses-là.
- C'est ce qu'on dit.
- Mais c'est vrai. Les enfants vous parlent en pensée. On se réveille avant eux, avant même qu'ils pleurent, en sachant que ça ne va pas tarder.
Beth n'avait encore jamais pensé au côté sinistre de la chose, que si Ben était en ce moment torturé ou en train d'étouffer, elle sentirait une douleur monter en elle. Elle était certaine. Quelque chose dans son corps l'avertirait, un signal physiologique". (p. 50)

Ce roman nous happe véritablement. Les chapitres alternés entre les points de vue de Beth et de Vincent créent un rythme soutenu qui renforcent la puissance de l'histoire. Difficile en effet de rester insensible au thème abordé dans ce roman. Les personnages sont attachants, chacun à leur manière. Entre Beth, qui perd pied, Pat qui veut revivre et Vincent qui tombe dans la petite délinquance.
Abordant deux périodes successives: la période suivant la disparition ainsi que celle suivant l'apparition du jeune adolescent dans la vie des Cappadora, "Aussi profond que l'océan" nous fait voyager à travers les sentiments exprimés par les protagonistes. Entre espoir et désespoir, entre courage et abandon, nous ne pouvons sortir indemne de ce récit....

Nous sommes nombreux à nous souvenir du film réalisé en 1999 par Ulu Grosbard avec Michelle Pfeiffer dans le rôle de Beth et Whoopi Goldberg dans le rôle de l'inspecteur Candy Bliss. Surtout n'hésitez pas à vous replonger dans ce roman qui a inspiré le film. Vous ne serez pas déçu!

Je remercie les Editions des Deux Terres ainsi que MyBoox de m'avoir permis de découvrir ce roman!

it was on my bookshelf forever. i knew i tried to read it multiple times before and got a couple of chapters in only to put it down uninterested. i kept getting the feeling i had read the entire thing through already. perhaps just another version of the same story, written by a different author and published under a different title. and i'm sure i already saw the lifetime adaptation.

I wont drag you through the synopsis of the book, to get that just google it yourself. really just want to put my 2 cents in on this book to hopefully steer others away. its not that this book is bad. and its not that this book is poorly written. its just mediocre. it relies too heavily on coincidence. the plot turns you can see from a mile away. the characters are developed just fine, but out of a book with so many characters, it would be nice to feel compassion and warm thoughts toward at least one of the primary characters. instead, i was left feeling disgusted at how self absorbed each and every person in this story was. there was dysfunction before the kid was abducted, there was certainly dysfunction afterward. I also thought this book could have ended far sooner than it did. there were parts that just seemed to drag.

And the restaurant, that could probably have been its own story line with its own separate book. I think the descriptions of this themed restaurant were probably this books ultimate saving grace.

i hear there is a second book in this story, no thanks. i'll pass.

but I might be interested in trying another book by Ms. Mitchard at some point. there is hope yet.

This story is extremely complex and kept me guessing the whole time. Some of the characters frustrated me, but I think that was the point. I loved the depth of the content- it felt like I was right there watching the story unfold. The ending was not my favorite, but I see where the author was going.

As Beth is checking in for her much-anticipated school reunion, her three-year-old son disappears in the busy hotel lobby. What follows is a search that spans several years and threatens to tear a family apart.

If it wasn’t official before, it is now—literary fiction is my favorite genre. I loved this book! This story takes a horrendous situation, the disappearance of a toddler, and really examines the impact on the lives of all involved in such a human, realistic way while still maintaining a vague feeling of suspense and unease for much of the book. The characters were described in such a way that I was able to empathize with each. I enjoyed the alternating perspectives of Beth and her older son, which added depth. Going in, I thought this book might end up being a sob fest or somehow sappy given the premise but it wasn’t at all. Instead, I was fully invested in the story and intrigued by the excellent writing. Definitely recommend.