The Things That Keep Us Here: Summary and book reviews of The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley, plus links to an excerpt from The Things That Keep Us Here and a biography of Carla Buckley.
The Things That Keep Us Here A Novel
by Carla Buckley
Hardcover: Feb 2010,
416 pages.
Paperback: Jan 2011,
432 pages.
Ann Brooks never thought she’d have to answer that question. Then she found her limits tested by a crisis no one could prevent. Now, as her neighborhood descends into panic, she must make tough choices to protect everyone she loves from a threat she cannot even see. In this chillingly urgent novel, Carla Buckley confronts us with the terrifying decisions we are forced to make when ordinary life changes overnight.
A year ago, Ann and Peter Brooks were just another unhappily married couple trying–and failing–to keep their relationship together while they raised two young daughters. Now the world around them is about to be shaken as Peter, a university researcher, comes to a startling realization: A virulent pandemic has made the terrible leap across the ocean to America’s heartland.
And it is killing fifty out of every hundred people it touches.
As their town goes into lockdown, Peter is forced to return home–with his beautiful graduate assistant. But the Brookses’ safe suburban world is no longer the refuge it once was. Food grows scarce, and neighbor turns against neighbor in grocery stores and at gas pumps. And then a winter storm strikes, and the community is left huddling in the dark.
Trapped inside the house she once called home, Ann Brooks must make life-or-death decisions in an environment where opening a door to a neighbor could threaten all the things she holds dear.
Carla Buckley’s poignant debut raises important questions to which there are no easy answers, in an emotionally riveting tale of one family facing unimaginable stress.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Mawkish prose and blatantly contrived plot developments make this a disappointing debut.
Publishers Weekly
Although Buckley raises important questions about trust, loyalty and forgiveness, the narrative flaws detract from the overall effect.
Library Journal
Despite structural flaws, this vivid depiction of suburban America gone bad is riveting. It has the potential for broad appeal and could attract fans of authors as diverse as Jodi Picoult, Robin Cook, and P.D. James.
Booklist
...her story gradually gains depth and momentum, operating both as a psychological profile of a family under duress and as a scary, gripping look at the effects of a pandemic. For fans of Robin Cook, Michael Palmer, and Daniel Kalla.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Louise Jolly Grabs You and Pulls You In! PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!
Ann and Peter Brooks have two daughters: twelve-year-old Kate and seven-year-old Maddie who live in the comfortable suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Their baby, William, had died causing... Read More
Rated of 5
by Hunter C. Structure vs. Plot Who cares if this story doesn't have the best structure in the world? It is a STORY to be told, to entertain and to grip it's readers. This is one of the best books I've ever read. Kudos! I very highly recommend that anyone who has the chance to... Read More
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Kirkus Reviews
Library Journal
of 5
by Louise Jolly
of 5
by Hunter C.
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