This is one of those books that, as a parent, has you holding your breath as you're reading it. It has been turned into a movie and I have to admit the movie is fantastic! I think they did a great job adapting it from the book. This is an amazing story from start to finish. I felt so in touch with the mother, that I noticed myself keeping an extra eye on my kids after reading it. The author did a great job of helping the reader to feel what the mom was going through.
Great book, get a kleenex!
When Beth Cappadora, a suburban mother and photographer, loses sight of her three-year-old son, Ben, at her fifteenth high-school reunion, not only does her life implode, her family's does as well. Her husband, Pat, discovers cracks in the marriage where there were no apparent rifts before. More disturbingly, her older son, Vincent, who was supposed to hold on to his little brother's hand, begins a lifelong descent, intent on proving he is as shameful and unlovable as he believes his parents consider him to be. Then, in what appears to be a miracle, the Cappadora family finds Ben, who has been raised and loved by a former classmate of Beth's â a woman whose success as an actress has been a mask for madness and depression â and her husband, who adores Ben as his son. Ben has no memory of his family; he is heartbroken and lost. The Deep End of the Ocean asks the reader, is it true that more tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones? The authenticity of grief in the novel was informed by the death of my husband, a man whose big Italian family, like the Cappadoras, was in the restaurant business, and who died the year before I began to write the book. Are we who we are because of our genetics or because of what we remember?...The only difference between any of us and the Cappadoras is that they have been caught and stunned by extraordinary circumstances. They are everyday people who have experienced what was once called "the great lyric passage" in their lives that will change them forever...
http://www.jacquelynmitchard.com/mitchard-deepend.htm
This story was in detail compared to the movie. Some of the characters lives were not the same as what was stated in the movie. The story in the movie was shorter and some of the things didn't happen in the same way as the book.
I really felt that this book was very realistic. Of course, I've never been in the situation that this family has been in, but not everything in life turns out like roses and this book exposes some of that.
As usual, the book is immensely better than the movie. This is a must read.
Excellent, hard to put down, gripping and emotional.
Pat and Beth Cappadora experience every parent's nightmare - the abduction of their three year old son, Ben from a hotel lobby. For nine years Beth's mind and emotions are suspended in time. Pat can do nothing to bring his son back. Their older son, Vincent, turns into a deliquent in an attempt to break the band of silence that reigns in the Cappadora home.
Nine years later something so unexpected happens, that it changes everything that once seemed true.
Compelling reading about a family struck by tragedy and torn apart by love.
Good one!
Very deep, dark story of a family in turmoil..couldn't put it down-great read!
I could only imagine how this woman felt and how this family dealt with their circumstances. It seemed so real. The author took you there. She did a great job.
I enjoyed this book. It brought you into the emotions that only a mother who has lost a child can feel. I thought Mitchard did a fine job of taking you there.
