The Space Between
A novel about grief and survival in the family left behind after a school shooting.
Work Information
It looks at the aftermath of an unspeakable tragedy through the mother’s eyes.
Told from the mother’s perspective after a high school shooting, the novel maps the fractures inside a family and the emptiness left behind. It works through quiet pressure rather than emotional excess.
Review Summaries
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Readers appreciate that it does not cheapen pain and instead carefully follows a family’s silence and unraveling.
Book Information
- Publisher
- River City Pub
- Published
- 2006-09-30
- Pages
- 301 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 16.51 x 2.54 x 24.13 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781579660581
- ISBN-10
- 1579660584
- Price
- 8869 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Family Saga
"Judith's son has shot two students, a teacher, and himself at school. An ordinary wife and mother must suddenly grapple with extraordinary grief and horror, struggling to be the center of her remaining family but plagued by doubts and questions that maydisrupt her life more completely than the shooting"--Provided by publisher.
Kali VanBaale grew up on a dairy farm in rural Iowa. She is an alumnus of Upper Iowa University; "The Space Between" is her first novel. She lives outside Des Moines with her husband and two children.
Reviews
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This book is a great read. The character/story development is impressive. It's a very convicting story about how we treat one another. I thought it was going to be very dark. Turns out I couldn't put it down, & I'm not much for reading.
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Very good portrayl of what a mom of a school shooter goes through. Some insights as to what may have prompted her son are replayed; although as in real life, no reason (or the sum of all reasons) seem to be "enough". While their home life is a somewhat out of kilter, the son had been bullied, and he had a recent traumatic break up with a girlfriend, nothing indicates that it would have drove him to what he did. Again, as in real life he was the only one who knew, or if he had lived would he himself have really been able to know? Obviously he was troubled and needed counseling but for all appearances this didn't seem so. The book also tells of the effects of the tragedy on the younger daughter, the father, a mom whose only daughter was killed in the shooting, and the boy's ex-girlfriend. The ending of the story is realistic and hopeful, for many of the characters this tragedy touched.
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Our book club chose The Space Between just as it was being published and made available to the public. I thought the writing was excellent and the story engaging. We had a lively book club discussion and were fortunate to have Kali Vanbaale with us for the meeting. I would recommend this book to book clubs and individual readers alike. I am looking forward to reading more from Ms. Vanbaale.
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Kali has a great voice. You actually feel like you are reading a true account, not a fictional tale. I hope she writes more books.
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One of the best books I've read. Every mother should read this. I could physically feel the pain of this mother.