Our Little World: A Novel by Karen Winn
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Web ID: 16376093Wonderfully written read!
This is a great debut read from this Author about coming of age, the on and off relationship between two sisters, their parents and just all growing up in this small town where everyone knows or thinks they know everyone's business. Then a little child from the neighborhood goes missing and this intriguing, at times heartwarming and sad yet thought-provoking book takes off in many interesting directions. I really enjoyed this book.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Coming of age and mystery
Book Review: Our Little World by Karen Winn Our Little World is a coming of age novel about a New Jersey girl in the 1980’s. It also has elements of mystery after a neighborhood girl disappears from the lake in broad daylight. Bee (Borka) Kocsis is about to start 7th grade in 1985 when a normal summer day at the lake turns tragic. While Bee, her sister Audrina and neighbor Max were playing in the water Max’s little sister Sally disappears. Over the next few years Bee will worry about Sally, battle with her beautiful and popular younger sister, and discover the moral failures of the adults around her. When Audrina has a health crisis that requires her older sister’s help Bee will be drawn into a complicated new relationship her sibling and discover that they both are keeping secrets. Our Little World is full of historical detail about the life of teens and tweens and the mid-80’s. Through Bee’s eyes we see the darker side of small town and suburbia and the push/pull relationship between sisters. It is very evenly paced and never boring despite the often mundane details about the life of a teenage girl. Overall, this will be a relatable novel for a lot of women who came of age in the 80’s, have sisters or struggled fitting in and finding their way. 4 stars
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Good Read
Our Little World was not what I was expecting as it was more a coming-of-age story than suspense and from the start, I really thought it was headed in the direction of a suspense story. It was a good read and I loved traveling back to the summer of 1985. 3.5 stars
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A mystery that reads like a memoir
To quote Elin Hilderbrand, “‘Our Little World’ will transport & transfix you.” Part mystery, part memoir-like, this work of fiction follows the folks living in a fictional New Jersey town. Sisters Audrina & Bee navigate their complicated relationship as they grow up on a cul-de-sac in a tight-knit neighborhood. One summer, their new neighbors’ young daughter Sally goes missing, rocking the town & its residents. As they await word on the whereabouts of the toddler, Audrina is diagnosed as a diabetic and struggles to cope with the disease. Meanwhile Bee is caught between caring for her sister & trying to break free into the world of junior high. One day before winter break, Audrina doesn’t return home & she’s eventually found dead in the town’s library, the result of an apparent hypoglycemic episode. Bee’s life has now been rocked twice and she is forced to live with the guilt her actions played in both Sally’s and Audrina’s deaths. As the fallout from Audrina’s passing takes center stage in the book, the reader is left wondering if there will be closure in Sally’s disappearance. Winn once again shocks us in the epilogue with the news that the small town’s well-liked cop was actually responsible for the toddler’s death. DNA evidence helped police find the killer more than 30 years later, which was a very well-done & timely conclusion to the entire book. Easy to give this one five stars!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Debut Novel that Packs a Nostalgic Punch
I could not believe how well written this book was since the author is a debut author, but this is one for the record books that is heart-tugging and memorable. Set in the 1980’s this is a nostalgic book that reminded me of my children’s childhoods, when times were considered safer for children to just be children. That’s what Bee, Audrina, Max and Sally are, just children, enjoying their lives until tragedy strikes when Sally disappears one day at the lake. No one is the same afterwards, but Bee seems to be most affected, probably because the entire novel is told from her adolescent point of view. The characters are well developed and each has his/her own personality. Bee is a tomboy that really wants to be more girlish but doesn’t know how. Audrina is an extrovert who demands and gets attention because she is pretty and popular. Max and Sally are the next door neighbors who move into the quiet cul de sac from Boston and are still adjusting to live in a more rural area when Sally disappears. As Audrina and Bee mature, they grow further and further apart, probably as a result of early sibling rivalry and complicated by Sally’s disappearance. Since Bee is the one telling the story, at times the novel seemed like a memoir or a diary, and their was a lot of teen angst and emotion throughout. The plot was engaging, but the central focus of the story was the characters and their relationships to each other. With a mystery and themes of family secrets, sibling relationships, childhood innocence destroyed, and death, this book was one that I would recommend to anyone looking for a domestic drama that not only entertains but makes you remember how things used to be. Disclaimer Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A genre bending coming-of-age debut
I honestly don't even really know where to start with Our Little World by Karen Winn. This is a debut novel, and I didn't think that showed at all because it was just so good and flowed so well. There is a tiny bit of mystery to it thanks to Sally going missing, but since you are seeing all of this through the eyes of a young girl, it really isn't about that mystery being solved. There was a strong focus on Bee and her sister's relationship, and Winn also really brought to life what it is like to live in a small community where everyone knows everyone's business, or at the very least the rumors. I was glad that even though Bee is our only viewpoint and so young, this didn't really feel like a juvenile read to me. I honestly would have placed it in the adult fiction genre if I didn't know any better, and I loved that. Part of the adult feel of this book could also have been because I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Jesse Vilinsky is clearly an adult, so I was technically listening to Bee through an adult's narration. Either way, I thought that Vilinsky did a stellar job voicing this book, and there wasn't a moment I didn't enjoy with her 'behind the wheel' so to speak. There are some really messed-up things that happen in Our Little World, and I almost want to categorize it as a bit of a family saga/drama. It is definitely a coming-of-age novel as both Hilderbrand's blurb and the synopsis suggest, and it gave me so many complex feelings and emotions as I was listening to it. The pacing is slow to be sure, but I never found myself bored or wishing for more which I thought was a great sign. If you are at all interested in books like this, I highly recommend picking up Our Little World and preparing yourself for an emotional roller coaster. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
An idyllic summer in 1985 New Jersey turns tragic
A bit of coming-of-age and a bit of mystery combine in this novel that begins in the summer of 1985. Told from the perspective of Borka or “Bee”, as she prefers to be called, and the oldest sister to the beautiful, popular, and lovable Audrina, Bee reflects back on the summer that changed everything for her family. Tragedy strikes during a typical summer day at the lake with their neighbors the Bakers. The youngest Baker sister, Sally, goes missing. The idyllic New Jersey summer of 1985 changed the lives of Bee and Audrina forever. As Bee looks back on the years 1985-1986, she remembers the angst of being a teenager, the complicated relationship with her sister, and the secrets from that time that almost tore their family apart. “It was a few seconds and it was a few hours and it was the rest of our lives.” The first sentence tells the reader that Audrina and Sally die. But, it takes nearly the whole story to find out what happens to them. As we follow Bee and Audrina growing up in the close-knit New Jersey community, we know in the back of our minds that something terrible is going to happen. We witness the fights and hurtful words between two sisters and hope that those aren’t the last words said to each other. Those of us with sisters or siblings understand the friction, the annoyances, and the regrets in managing those relationships. As they try to overcome the summer that Sally went missing, never being left alone or free to roam outside, Bee remembers the summer that she became the closest to her sister. “Was a family room still a family room when your family no longer existed?” It was precious to read a story set in the 1980s, a time frame that I grew up in while remembering life before cell phones and social media. A time when we only had a landline and corded phones to talk to our friends. I remember the fear of Adam Walsh going missing and seeing a child’s face on a milk carton. What happened to those kids and what happened to Sally Baker? The Kocsis and Baker families can’t bear to imagine the worst, but after a year, how could she still be alive? “Accidents were spilled drinks and items you knock over when you brush too closely against a table and the time Audrina crashed her bike. Accidents were not this. Accidents were not death.” There are numerous family issues in the story as well including infidelity, alcoholism, secrets, and betrayal. Can any family recover from the events during the summer of 1985? For a first-time novelist, I thought the pacing of the story was particularly well done. The voice of teen Bee and adult Bee were authentic and the feelings Bee struggled with were easy to identify with. What child doesn’t want to keep a secret that might get her in trouble? What child doesn’t play out the pros and cons of any situation, wondering what her next move should be regarding boys, friendships, and especially when dealing with family secrets? If you like family stories, sister stories (one of my favorites), a mystery, or coming-of-age, this novel has all these qualities. I was impressed with the story and find myself thinking of Bee quite often. I hope there is more to come from Karen Winn in the future.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Moving debut novel...
What a moving debut novel by author Karen Winn. I don't usually gravitate toward fictional crime dramas (especially ones involving a child), but when the publisher reached out saying the protagonist, Bee, would capture my heart, I just couldn't resist. And boy was she right. Bee was such a captivating character, as was her sister, Audrina, and I felt every emotion right along with them. Throw in the 80s setting, the sisterly bond, and the coming-of-age uncertainties, and this novel was a definite win. Ms. Winn did an incredible job in allowing the reader to experience the palpable fear of the community, and the genuine angst of the teenagers in the story. And despite having to put the novel down a few times because of the chaos of life, the story was SO vivid that I never forgot the characters or the situation they were in when I had to put it down. In other words, it was deeply affecting. There was more to the narrative than just the overarching tragic mystery. The author delves into the themes of sibling rivalry, family dynamics, survivor's guilt, and the angst that children of immigrants experience (of which I have first-hand knowledge). This one is definitely worth your time, my friends! Many thanks to Dutton Books, Penguin Random House, and Net Galley for a great novel!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com