Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Literary Fiction

At the age of 19, Harley Altmyer's life is turned upside down after his mother kills his abusive father and is sent to prison, leaving him by himself to raise his three younger sisters. Back Roads transports us to their dreary mining town in Pennsylvania, where Harley struggles to cope with the weight of responsibility, recalls his past, and juggles his developing affections for Callie Mercer, who is already married. As a result of this emotional vulnerability, which takes place against the backdrop of poverty and limited choices, Harley is forced to struggle with not only taking care of his family but also establishing his own identity in a cruel world.

As a result of the tragedy that each of his sisters has experienced, Harley and his sisters look for healing in their delicate bond, in the consolation that nature provides, and even in therapy. They grapple with the intricacies of family, grief, and the persistent power of human connection throughout their coming-of-age story, which is a narrative of grit and resilience. There is a heartbreaking depiction of survival in Back Roads, which serves to remind us that even on the most difficult back roads, there is sometimes the possibility of finding healing and hope.

Why did I decide to purchase this book? The first thing I did was see the film, which was directed by Alex Pettyfer and starred him too. I believe that he did an outstanding job of managing both roles. This movie was a true gem, and I loved it a lot. I wanted to read the book and see how it compared to the movie adaptation, and I was not disappointed in the least. Because Tawni O'Dell did such an outstanding job with her first novel, I am interested in reading her other works.

This is a story about a dysfunctional family that goes through a lot of hardships. It is filled with trigger warnings that I don’t want to mention, but I highly advise you to read them before picking it up. The characters are very complex, and many times you would question why they did this or that, but that is human nature, full of unpredictability. The plot is not just contemporary literature; suspense and mystery play a big part in it. Everything you need to do is get yourself ready for the story. I was because I had watched the movie, and I am aware that the shock factor would have been significantly more pronounced if I had not done so. I absolutely loved it and recommend it to everybody.

I found this book ages ago on one of my Goodwill trips, and it sounded intriguing, so I went ahead and picked it up. Then it sat forgotten in my TBR cupboard for awhile, until yesterday when I was rooting around in there, it called to me, and demanded I read it. So I did. I was pretty much hooked from the get-go, I immediately felt for Harley and his sisters, their whole situation. But it quickly devolved into me not being able to put the book down, it was like a train-wreck I just couldn't tear my eyes away from. I liked the character of Harley, even if he was kind of an ass most of the time, and kinda crazy the rest of the time. I mean, I could understand his confusion, and frustration, and anger, but he was still kind of weird. I don't know, I know if I would've been in his shoes, I wouldn't have acted anything like the way he did. But maybe it's because I'm a girl, and he's a teenage boy, and I'm sure they think in a different way, see the world different. Or not. I'll never know, because I've never been a teenage boy. It seemed like he had a real hard time owning his responsibilities. At times he reminded me of my guy's 21 year old loser son, not wanting to do anything but drink beer, not understanding that the world doesn't revolve around him. And on that subject, when Harley drank, it said he drank like 3 beers and was falling down drunk. Um, ok, even when I was 14 and drinking for the first time, it took more than three drinks to make me drunk. I certainly wouldn't have fallen face first off of a porch after 3 beers. So, I don't know, either the author hasn't had much experience with alcohol, or the kid is just meant to be a supreme lightweight. I mean, I can drink a 6 pack and be hardly buzzed. So... That was just a weird little thing that just seemed off to me. Maybe it's just me, maybe there are people out there who get ridiculously trashed off of three beers. Not a big deal in terms of the story or anything. In fact, this was a really good story. Not good in terms of characters I loved, and a great adventure or anything like that, but it was good in how it made me feel for these characters, even when they were making me sick. And I gotta give props to the author for the excellent way she had of giving me the feel for the area where the story takes place, the beautiful woods and hills mixed with the run-down decay of a town where coal used to be king, the gloomy sort of feeling the whole place had, kinda run down almost, the world was moving on. I enjoyed that, and will look for more books by this author because of it. Sometimes I didn't think the characters were acting believable. Like, for instance, Harley's state-mandated psychiatrist visits. He seemed to freak out and literally run out of them like every time he went. Around here, that wouldn't fly. If the state says you must visit a shrink, then it's mandatory that you show up, or the cops show up at your house to pay a little check-up visit. So, the fact that he was freaking out and running away kinda bothered me, as the shrink never really pursued the matter, she just waited for him to come back the next month. Also, Harley's own reaction to a lot of things was weird. Especially the crazy stuff going on in his family. His 16 year-old sister Amber comes onto him at every opportunity, wearing see-through lace nighties around the house, flashing him her g-strings... His 12 and 6 year-old sisters talk about how they should hook up to ease their stress like it's normal and ok. I think if my sister was slipping into my bed naked in the middle of the night and rubbing herself on me, I'd be knocking her slutty ass out. Freakin' sicko. And she was like psycho! If anyone needed to be in therapy it was Amber and Misty (the 12 year-old). When Amber finds out Harley's having an affair with the mom of one of the 6 year-old's friends, she screams and cries about it for days like she caught her boyfriend cheating on her, mascara running down her face and all that stuff. Plus her run-away attempts, her penchant for boys who use her for sex and hit her... She coulda used some therapy. As for Misty, she was the one that really bugged me. At first I felt for her, I could understand her sadness at losing her dad, the whole awkward stage she's in at her age. But then it turns out that she's just as psycho, if not worse than the others. When the truth comes out that she killed her pet kitten, the kitten whose collar she wears constantly that everyone thought had been killed by a hunter, I was disgusted. How can anyone hurt an innocent little baby kitten? Especially a little girl. Girls are supposed to be nice and good, not psycho killers who get joy out of killing kittens and gutting deer. Then the bigger truth comes out, that she's the one who shot their dad, and it was only an accident in the way that she was really aiming for their mom, and hit the dad instead. And the reason why? Because she was jealous that the dad loved the mom. Yea, in that way. I mean, isn't it bad enough that the dad beat on all the kids? Then you gotta have one of 'em who actually wants it, plus wants more, and dirtier? Sick. And I didn't like how nothing happened to her in the end. Someone should've tried harder to see this kid get some help. Instead she went to live with her aunt and uncle and little sister, and that was it. Little psycho should've been locked up, and the key thrown away. I'm not fond of this new age 'let's give therapy to psycho killers' stuff. I think psychos should be locked up, why should tax payer dollars go to pay for them to get therapy? I can't even afford therapy for myself, why would I want to pay for it for a killer (or a child molester, or a rapist)? Just lock 'em up and keep 'em that way, don't give them talk therapy and release them back into society! But, I digress, as my opinion on that really doesn't have to do with the story, lol. And I haven't even mentioned Callie, the mom Harley finds himself having an affair with. She had her own issues, and I would've liked to get to know her a lot better. I couldn't believe some of the stuff she did though. Sure, sneaking away to the woods to bang the boy was ok (well, not morally but, y'know what I'm saying), but then he comes over to her house while her little son is outside playing and they go inside 'to get some Kool-Aid' and end up banging on the kitchen table, all while the kid's nearby. Then Harley comes over at night, while her husband's home, and demands to see her, and they go out and sit in his truck, within view of the house, and she goes down on him, and they make out. While her husband and kids are right freakin' there, right in the house, like 30ft away! This whole story was a hot mess I couldn't leave, I found myself wanting more, more details, more craziness, more background, more. I probably could've read another hundred pages or even more. But I did like it, don't get me wrong, I kinda liked it a lot. I think I'll probably hang onto this book, give it another read in the future. And I'd really like to read more by this author, give her another try or two. An odd story, but interesting and attention-grabbing. I did kind of like the end, when the truth came out about who killed Callie, and at least a little justice was handed out. Sure Harley's in a mental home, but I really think that's for the best, until he learns to cope, and accept the things that happened and gain some strength or something. Weird, but still good :)

Let's just say one thing: this is one fucked up family. If you decide to read this book, brace yourself, seriously, the Altmyer's are fucked up. But for some reason, you still like them.

There's so much that happens in this story that keeps you reading I can't say much without giving it away. For a first novel O'Dell does an extremely good job. Her writing is raw and real which helps add to the mood and characters of the book.

One thing I liked about O'Dell's style was that instead of constantly describing the overall pictures of things, she finds minute details, idiosyncrasies in characters, flaws in settings, to focus on instead. It's fascinating and beautiful at the same time.

Like I said earlier, there are so many surprises that pop up throughout the book to rehash the plot and what I liked about the story and didn't like would give too much away and probably keep you from reading the story. It's these surprises that really keep the story moving and keep you reading.

First off **super trigger warnings in this book**. I had a hard time reading this. The blurb for this book was completely different than what I was expecting, that's for sure! First, the main character was hard to connect with, and when you start to see some human in him...uh, the book is just disturbing, so be warned.

I love dark, gritty stories like this. Second time I've read it. The hero is almost totally unlikeable and yet what he has to put up with is so awful, he somehow ellicits modicums of sympathy. This world, where a mother is in prison for murder, and a young man is responsible for his three younger sisters, is a bleak one. The story's not for the faint hearted. It has violence, sex and a realism that makes you squirm. It's a keeper for me.

5 STARS

"Not since S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders) has a female novelist penned such a tough and titillating portrait of lower-class, crime-ridden manhood. Set in "beautiful, ruined" western Pennsylvania, amid Eat n' Parks and Lick n' Putts, Tawni O'Dell's Back Roads follows Harley Altmyer as he walks a raging, self-conscious line between crime and innocence. Why is he being held by the authorities, and what's he so mad about? In the recent past, it's his mother, who murdered his father and went to jail for life. In the far past, it's Dad himself: an abusive, hopeless man. In the present, it's the responsibility for his three younger sisters, which makes him fantasize about smashing their faces in until they "spit up bloody macaroni and cheese."

But Harley still has a conscience--barely. He doesn't strike his sisters; he's been trying to protect them. The oldest is sassy Amber, 16, who's having sex on the living-room couch with townies who abuse her; next is frighteningly stoic 12-year-old Misty, with eyes "a glazed brown like a medicine bottle"; the youngest is adorable Jody, who at 6 pens to-do lists with items such as "PRAY FOR DADDYS SOWL." Overburdened with the practicalities of life, and the ever-mounting losses, Harley has started seeing his own words floating in the air in front of his face. "CLOSURE. TRUTH. MOST GUYS." (From Amazon)

I have read this a few times and listened to the audio. I love this book. Every time I read this novel my heart breaks. The characters are realistic and sometimes life just sucks.

A book i liked but won't be recommending to anyone...Everrr

Disfunctional tragic family coping to survive with mom in jail, three younger sisters, and an older brother working two jobs doing his best. Fast read. Good plot buildup.

Viewed through the thoughts and experiences of a 19 yr boy old left to care for his three sisters after his mother is imprisoned for murdering his father. Main theme is family violence and the horrendous effect it has on the children trapped within it. I couldn't put it down. Its not in your face, gruesome or aiming to shock, though it does of course - most of it is the sad, scary, dreary, frightening relentless daily reality of living in a family where a convincing enough form of love coexists with a brutality from which there is no escape. By love I mean the mother loves her children and the children have some strong and healthy ties to one another - but the mother does not protect or remove her children and the childrens' relationships with one another become twisted and destructive.

Engrossing, painful and raw.

Please! Do not bother!

THIS is the tale of a 19 year old brother and his 3 younger sisters, the oldest of 16, in the aftermath of their mother shooting their father - dead.

She goes to prison - he is the girls' legal guardian. Works two jobs and Lord have mercy - there is so much depressing and deviant stuff happening. Continually.

I finished the d@#m book - hoping, I guess, to see the point.

You all know how I love books - I wouldn't feel bad throwing this one in the trash.

I would not recommend!

Meh. 2 or 3? Reading more than 2 pages at a time makes a book more enjoyable. But it would be nice to have read something worth my time. What are you supposed to get out if reading this? Enlightenment? No. Enjoyment? No.