I couldn’t put it down.

4.5

I bought this book at a used book sale and so it was crazy cheap and what drew me to the book was the back cover blurb review thingy... I know, "Don't judge a book by the cover", but the last line of "endearing humor, his love for his sisters, and his bumbling heroics can redeem them all" sounded so promising and perfect. The good thing about the book is that it is a page turner and completely pulled me in. I did want to see what happened. However, there was no humor, no likable characters by the book's end and you have to be able to stomach one crazy sick family.

Review to follow.

dark. darkdarkdarkdarkdark. it's the kind of book that...when you read it...you can hear the dripdrop of a lonely limestained faucet in the background. you won't love the protagonist...but you can't hate him, either. i can't explain exactly why I am giving this book 4 stars...other than to say that it was good enough to make me remember the protagonist...make me think about him after I turned the last page. I can't ask for much more...why isn't it a 5 star'er? well, I'm just an amateur. regardless...please, don't read this book if you aren't willing to lose a little faith in humanity.

One of the most amazing aspects of O'Dell's writing is that she leads you to draw one conclusion about a character, and then slowly feeds you evidence that you've misjudged. I think that's what I enjoyed most about this story, the slow reveal leading to the ultimate conclusion. And then I'm left hating the people I respected, and respecting the people I hated. Awesome writing!

I'm done with the book but can't stop thinking about it, or the author. She actually grew up in Indiana PA, where this novel is based. As a writer who grew up in a gritty place, I've wondered how to write about the amazing stories I accumulated there. O'Dell has done it, and she's writing another one. I respect her for that.

I gave Back Roads 4 stars because of VERY strong 3-dimensional characters, dramatic tension and suspense, a hero I could root for - although anti-hero might be the better term - and a satisfying conclusion. I respected the way the author was able to show Harley, the main character, falling apart under the strain. His internal dialogue revealed such incredibly violent tendencies (which he never acted out - another major victory for this pathetically heroic young man), and those tendencies were backstory! He didn't get that way from the inciting incident. He and his sisters grew up in this situation, and they all reacted to it in different ways.

I always like to hunt for themes in a story I enjoy, and in this one I saw the theme of responsibility accepted and shirked. Too much or too little taken on, and the results of that decision. Another theme was the question of Stockholm Syndrome - did Harley have it or not? Did his mom? Who was the tormentor, and who the tormented, in Callie's marriage?

All in all, an amazing book. I highly recommend it.

Nunca había oído hablar de la autora y mucho menos del libro. Llegó a mi por recomendación de #kindleunlimited y tras ver varias reseñas en @goodreads de ¨amigos´ virtuales decidí aventurarme.
Que gran acierto.
Me ha encantado, desde la primera línea hasta la última.
Muy, muy duro. Tremendamente humano, violento por necesidad, no te adornan nada. Los personajes te hacen sufrir con ellos, vivir angustiosamente cada segundo que pasas con ellos.
Impredecible, no he visto venir absolutamente nada de la historia, me ha pillado cada vuelta de giro por sorpresa.
Es un thriller en mayúsculas.

Harley, la voz cantante, me duele prfundamente. Jody me enamora, Misty me asombra y Amber me descoloca.

Quiero más así.

This book is a 3 based on content and subject matter only.
The authors writing was good, held my interest, and kept me going until the end. For writing alone I'd give it a 4.

This book made me mad. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of action going on, but there was so much emotion and strife that it didn’t matter. The abuse that these kids had to endure is despicable. It makes me angry that kids grow up like that. From physical, emotional, sexual…it’s all there, coming from every which way you can think of. These poor kids never stood a chance. The narrative was very descriptively and heartbreakingly written.

Dark story of kids having to basically raise themselves, and although it is a coming of age tale for the oldest sibling - a teenaged boy who becomes involved with an older woman, it was the middle kid that horrified me. Lacking for love and possibly abused, she seeks out physical attention in highly inappropriate ways for a girl her age.

Stop here for a spoiler that explains why Ill never read another thing by this author.

The young sister repeatedly tries to seduce her big brother. Its been years since I read this, but she may be 14 and he is 17. When at the book's close he is devastated by events with the older woman he obsesses over (and some other awful things), he caves in and has sex with his little sister out of grief and desolation. Incest between two teenagers who have already been steamrolled by life was the final straw for me. I read for escape. This sort of horror has no appeal for me at all.

This book was the most RAW book I have ever read. Don’t know how else to explain it.....almost like the writer crawled in the brain of a psychopath but went even deeper. So disturbing but fascinating

19 year old Harley must take care of his younger sisters after mom shoots abusive dad. Harley starts out as a funny, sympathetic character, but the ending spirals out of control. Also, the AUTHOR has an annoying HABIT of capitalizing some of Harley's WORDS. I guess in case we can't figure out that something important is happening.