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Book Review of The Weight of Silence

The Weight of Silence
TextAddict avatar reviewed on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


Calli Clark is a seven year old that suffers from selective mutism brought on by a horrible tragedy from when she was just a toddler. Calli lives with her kind and devoted mother and her mostly absent, angry, alcoholic father. Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend and her voice. She understands Calli like no other and knows what Calli wants, or needs to say.

One August morning, as dawn is approaching, both families awaken to find that the little girls have gone missing during the night. Calli's mother denies that her husband had anything to do with their abduction but starts to fear that her decision to stay in the abusive marriage may now have cost her more than just her daughter's beautiful voice.

Everyone in the town is searching the surrounding woods of the girls homes, including Calli's older brother Ben. Ben finds them in the woods and is horrified when he walks up. What does he see? Who all does he find and are they alive or dead? If just Calli's ok will she be able to overcome her mutism and speak or is the answer trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets?

This book started out very slow and was hard to get interested in at first. Each chapter is told by a different characters point of view, which caused the story to be somewhat jumpy and difficult to get a good feel of each personal character. As the story unfolded however, I couldn't put the book down. I couldn't wait to find out what was going to become of everyone. I enjoyed reading this book and it is one that I will probably put up to read again later on.