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Akin

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Member Reviews

I love Emma Donoghue and this is my fourth book - and my fourth 5-star rating - by this wonderful author.. This one happens in contemporary time and is the story of 79-year old Noah who is compelled to take on his 11-year old great-nephew, a street-wise mouthy kid from the other side of the tracks, and right before Noah’s trip to Nice, France - so he has to bring the boy with him. I loved both these characters so much. There is a backstory also, that Noah is attempting to learn the meaning of some photos he found of his mother's from her time there in WWII, which adds a mystery element to the story. The book made me smile, laugh, and cry, and it made me think, so it’s definitely worth the 5 stars I’m giving it. I'm even listening to it on audio now. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book.

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Noah Selvaggio is about to turn eighty. He is a retired chemistry professor and widower and as he ages his thoughts return to his childhood. Noah was born in France. As World War II approached, his father immigrated to the United States while he and his mother stayed behind to attend to his grandfather, a renowned photographer. When Noah was around four, his mother sent him to join his father, making the long sea voyage by himself. She stayed in Nice throughout the war, rejoining Noah and his father after the war and having Noah's little sister.
Now Noah is about to return to Nice for the first time and he is quite excited about it. But right before he is to leave, he is contacted by New York social services. He has a great nephew he has never met who is eleven and named Michael. Michael has no one to stay with. His father died of a drug overdose and his mother is in prison. He had been staying with his grandmother but she has just died also. Noah is the only relative who can be located. Reluctantly, Noah agrees to take Michael with him while social services continues to look for a younger relative who will give Michael a home.

So the two take off, eighty and eleven. There is a huge gap in knowledge between the two. Noah knows what an adult knows and is surprised how little of his knowledge Michael has studied. Michael is appalled at how technology illiterate Noah is and how little he knows of current culture and phrases. Somehow the two find enough of a common ground to get by. Once in Nice, Noah revisits scenes from his childhood and he believes that he has discovered a shameful secret about his mother. Michael helps him with his research into his mother's life and provides a different viewpoint from Noah's. The two start to gel together but of course this relationship is only temporary.

Emma Donoghue has written a heartwarming novel with memorable characters. Michael has had about as much bad luck thrown at him as a child can and remains a charming individual overlaid with teenage angst. Noah is a fairly fussy elderly man whose viewpoint may be changed being around this young boy. The story of their discoveries both about history and their own natures will charm the reader. This book is recommended for readers of family relationships and literary fiction.

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Akin, by Emma Donoghue

I have decided that Emma Donoghue is a writer I will always read. I love this book so much...the main character is Noah, a childless widower, who is turning 80 in a week. After the recent death of his sister, Noah has decided to spend his sisters’ bequest by his visiting his birthplace, Nice, France. Right before he is to leave on his trip, he is approached by Child Services to take in his deceased nephews’ eleven year old son. The boys mother is in prison, his maternal grandmother who was caring for him has just died, and Noah is the only relative they are able to reach. If Noah doesn’t agree to take Micheal, he will end up in Foster Care. So off the two of them go to Nice. It doesn’t sound like a terrible interesting premise, but I loved the characters. And there is also the mystery of Noah’s mother, whom he fears was collaborating with the Germans during WW2. Noah had been sent to the states by his mother when he was a toddler. She decided to stay behind to care for her ailing father, a famous French photographer. Noah’s father had already gone ahead to the US to run an art gallery and sell the Grandfathers work. Donoghue couches her tale with the background of the Marcel Network which saved 527 Jewish children from the Nazi extermination camps. I found this book profoundly moving and a deeply satisfying read. Readers may not care for Michael’s character, but as a parent, I think the child’s grief and behavior rings true to his circumstances.
Highly recommended.

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I was drawn to this novel with curiosity about a trip involving an almost eighty year old retired professor and his eleven year old great nephew. Noah and his late wife Joan, a brilliant scientist, carry on conversations throughout his adventure abroad. They never had children so Noah approaches this young Michael with trepidation and a generational gap which seems insurmountable. Michael’s dad (Noah’s nephew) is dead from a drug overdose and his mother is in jail on drug dealing charges. Noah is Michael’s only living relative and is persuaded to take the boy temporarily until a more suitable relative can be found.

Noah’s organized trip to Nice, hoping to understand his own mother’s past during WWII, is now complicated by a cell phone toting, game playing and streetwise pre-teen. The age gap is profound as is Noah’s total lack of parenting skills. Michael is quite used to fending for himself and has learned to bend with whatever life throws at him. He’s not going to let some old codger tell him what to do, what to eat or how to behave. They are an odd couple indeed but find common ground when Michael’s research skills help Noah come to terms with events which may or may not have happened to Noah’s mother in Nazi occupied Nice.

If you are a history buff, Akin will be a fascinating read filled with historical facts and events surrounding the Nazi occupation of Nice. If you love learning about cities in Europe and their traditions this will also be an interesting read. The human nature aspect, the connection and divide between one generation and another is also something to ponder in Akin. I found the book slow going but was interested in the history of Nice and the underground movement to save children during the years of Nazi occupation. My first impressions of this novel were less than stellar but the more time I spent with Noah and Michael the more attached I became to both of these lost souls.

Emma Donoghue is an historian and a storyteller. This may not be my favourite Donoghue read but it did hold my interest throughout.

ARC received from publisher with thanks via NetGalley for review.

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Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an ARC. all opinions are my own.

For lovers of A Man Named Ove. This story follows an elderly man and his younger next of kin. I enjoy stories of juxtaposition of view points. Although these two characters are far from each other on their thoughts, they work to help each other fulfill what each is missing. Donahue does a great job of character development and Akin is a winner.

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I'm a big fan of Emma Donoghue's earlier books and count Room and Wonder among my favorites. While I enjoyed this book and found the relationship between Noah and Michael to be authentic and sometimes charming, the story did not have the "grab" that I'm used to with Donoghue's earlier works. It was a well-written, thought-provoking and endearing read, but I'm not sure it will be one that will stick with me long-term.

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I really enjoyed Emma Donoghue's Room so I was excited to read this book as well. I can relate to an old crotchety person just wanting to do something alone than being tasked with someone else involved! The development of the relationship between Noah and Michael develops in a realistic and natural way while exploring the mystery of Noah's mother. I enjoyed the journey with them very much!

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I wish I had written this closer to reading the book, but I deeply enjoyed this tale of intergenerational friendship and one man's quest to reclaim pieces of his past and memory.

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Thank you Netgalley, Little, Brown and Company and Emma Donoghue for free e-Arc in return of my honest review.

I love Emma Donoghue. I think her prose is amazing and she always creates beautiful and complex characters.
Akin is a story about an old man, Noah, and a young boy, Michael, they are both left alone in the world, and find some respite in each other. This is a story about revealing secrets from long past, about love and friendship, about family and how complicated they could be.

However, I find it a little bit boring. I managed to guess about Noah's mother activities during WWII in France, and I was sad that he himself thought only mean things about his mother's past. I wondered if it is natural to assume the worst rather than the best for not to be disappointed at the end when all is revealed.

Overall, I enjoyed Akin and hope to read more work of Emma Donoghue.

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I've always been a fan of Emma Donoghue and she never disappoints. This story was extremely touching and heartwarming - much-needed in these times!

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Sweet story about an aging man who becomes responsible for an11 year old boy. They spend time together and learn to understand each other's differences. Not as big of an impact as ROOM, but a good story none- the- less.

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Few writers can turn out page-turners like Emma Donoghue, and this one didn't disappoint. Rich and layered, the perfect read for quarantine times!

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I’ve read a lot of Emma Donoghue. Her writing is always top notch and I am immediately sucked in. This world I found myself in was out of my realm of awareness, but chock full of amazing, fleshed out characters that I wanted to see what happened next to this unlikely pair and what will be their next adventure. The ending was very cinematic and touching. I almost wanted more depth from these final experiences, but not every book can be Room or Hood. It may just have been two steps out of my world experience for me to really sit in the skin of these characters completely and let myself be immersed inside their world.

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The entire premise of Akin by Emma Donoghue seems unlikely. Putting that aside, it seems as though the book is following two stories that never really come together in a cohesive whole. I find myself skimming through to see if the characters or the story evolves throughout the book. Sadly, I find that it does not. I keep reading for the story to ring true, and it does not. I am disappointed.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/03/akin.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

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This was my introduction to Emma Donoghue’s work, and what an introduction it was.

Akin is a fascinating dual character study and in some ways a family saga, weaving together the lives of 11-year-old Michael and his octogenarian Great Uncle Noah, who are thrown together thanks to a tragedy in the boy’s life just before Noah plans to depart for a trip to Nice. Pressured into taking the boy along by a social worker as part of a “temporary custody arrangement,” Noah’s world gets turned upside down.

The writing is beautiful and the story captivating—part travelogue, part history lesson, part mystery. But it’s the relationship between the semi-curmudgeonly Noah and his disaffected great nephew that really makes the book shine.

They’re nearly 70 years apart in age, hail from completely different backgrounds, and have virtually nothing in common...or do they? Their light bickering and social disconnect makes for a charming, softly contentious relationship, but ultimately it’s the sweetness of what they become to one another that makes the story so wonderful.

Akin is just sweet enough without being saccharine, just wistful enough without being maudlin, just tense enough without being stressful. All of that makes it at once a stimulating but also light read. I adored it.

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I will have all I know sing to the moon and back over this book!! Also highly recommend this title on audio as well. Author of The Room, that ALONE makes you want to begin reading and the relationship between the uncle and his great-nephew reminds you to listen closer to the young people in your own life.

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I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

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This is a mind easy read - about an older (80) retired professor, Noah, and his preteen grand nephew, Michael. They had never met when a conscientious social worker brings them together in hopes of keeping Michael out of the foster care system. Noah is days from a trip to Nice where his family is from and he agrees to take Michael with him. So, the trip of the unlikely pair begins as they learn about each other and their family and it's history. I enjoyed their banter and interactions as they got to know each other. Noah has a puzzle about his mother's time in Nice during World War ll that brings some interest in the historical bits of their travels. I did think that Noah jumped to conclusions about his mother to quickly on several occasions which did not seem plausible to me. I really wanted to know more about the mysterious death of Michael's father - it seems to me it is a case of murder but no one seems too worried about solving it and putting the murderer away. And exactly why was his mother put into prison before the murder - It seems to me Noah should care more about solving those mysteries for Michael. To me, this is a novel that needs to be heard as an audio version rather than read - the french language used brings a needed flavor to the story.

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The book Akin tells the story of an 80-year-old man who suddenly becomes the guardian of his 11-year-old great-nephew. He takes his great-nephew on a previously planned trip to Nice, France, where Noah (the older man) tries to unravel a mystery about his mother during World War II. Through this, Noah and Michael (the boy) try to get to know each other better. I thought that the story was engaging, but I also had several issues with it. I did not think that the portrayal of Michael was totally realistic as a boy coming from the inner city of Brooklyn. I also thought some of the comparisons between World War II, Michael's situation, and the criminal justice system in the US were a bit contrived (although there is certainly a place for critiquing and calling for improvements to the criminal justice system).

I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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This story about the relationship between a widowed man and his great nephew is endearing, witty and funny.

Ms. Donahue’s has a great ability to create stories about relationships between adults and children in different circumstances.

Noah and Michael’s relationship started out rocky but as the story progressed through humour and a desire to understand each other it grew stronger.

I enjoyed the humour, wit and love that this story contained and I wanted to follow Noah and Michael in their journey to France and their journey to each other.

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