As Noel is preparing to leave for France to mark his 80th birthday he is asked to take custody of his 10 year old great nephew he has never met. The son of his estranged nephew is left without a care giver after the death of his grandmother and incarceration of his mother. Noel proceeds to take the boy with him to France as he searches his past and for answers on photos he finds that once belonged to his own mother. The relationship is difficult as expected but also grows. More alike that different the two find each other.

An incredibly engaging, touching story that will stay with you long after you've finished reading. I loved the characters. Well written and thought provoking - my favorite kind of book!

Akin was an interesting novel to read. It developed at a slow pace but it worked. I felt like I was really in the story with the characters.

Donahue rose to fame and fortune on the basis of her novel Room, which told a compelling story, but utterly failed to convince me that it was written from the perspective of its 5 year old protagonist (both the vocabulary and insight of the boy far exceeded such a young age). Her new book suffers something of a similar fate ... the main characters are an old codger approaching his 80th birthday, and his 11 year old great nephew, whom circumstances have left in his care during a fateful trip to Nice. Neither character completely convinces - they are like caricatures of what one would suppose such people would be like, and I soon wearied of being in their company, which often grated in its boorishness and repetition.

The two central 'mysteries' the elder Noel is trying to solve - what a series of photos taken by his mother during the Occupation mean, and why his nephew (the young boy's father) wound up dead of a drug overdose, are obvious to the reader far in advance of the curmudgeon FINALLY figuring them out, so one becomes impatient. And then, as in her earlier work, the ending bogs down in such treacly sentimentality, that diabetics should be given advanced warning.

That said, it isn't totally unreadable, and my displeasure is at least 50% my own preference for a different type of reading experience, so a begrudgingly very generous 3 stars.

I enjoyed this book with two generations going to visit France. Young 11 year old Michael doesn't have much choice, his mother has been arrested and children's social services have located his elderly uncle. Noah is packing for a trip to France when he gets the call about his great nephew. He's never been back to France since they moved to NY when he was a child. Now with some mysterious photographs he found in is mother's things and his nephew in tow he tries to solve some family mysteries. A good story of two points of view on travel, food and everything in between. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Noah Selvaggio is about to make a pilgrimage to his birthplace in Nice, France to celebrate his 80th birthday. He has been alone for awhile, as he lost his sister recently and his wife some years before. Also he believes he is untethered from family, he suddenly learns that his great-nephew (who he has never met) is in need of a caregiver. No other relatives can be found to step in and care for Michael, so Noah and Michael travel to Nice together and try to make the best of the situation, which is quite an adjustment. Overall, I really enjoyed the developing relationship between Michael and Noah. I felt like the side-plots regarding Noah's nephew/Michael's father, Victor, and Noah's mother were okay, but.... (begin spoiler) [I was willing to suspend my disbelief to go along with the idea based on a set of photos, Noah was able to work out that his mother had stayed behind in France to be a forger for the Marcel Network during WWII. I felt that learning that Victor's overdose was likely due to his being a confidential informant and not due to his addiction (because he had finally achieved sobriety for three months) was a bit too much of a stretch. Was it really necessary that Noah expected the worst from everyone, but then learned that truly they were virtuous...? (hide spoiler)]

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Little, Brown, and Company for the opportunity to read a copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars for a story with a nice message. Michael, an 11 year old with no one to care for him, gets placed with his deceased father's uncle who is about to turn 80, not a father himself, but willing to take him along on his iminent trip to Paris. Generation gap? Oh yes. Good story? Definitely.
Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

As a fan of Emma Donoghue I was anxious to read AKIN; I thoroughly enjoyed ROOM and THE WONDER. Though FROG MUSIC was not a favorite I enjoyed it enough.
Just not the case with AKIN. There is no doubt Ms. Donoghue can tell a story, she is an artist with words but I just never connected, never felt invested in Noah or Michael.


I kept waiting for something, really anything to happen in this book, but it never really did. The book wasn’t necessarily bad, just not necessarily good. Perhaps I set the bar for an Emma Donoghue novel too high.

This was a really lovely, lyrical tale that flowed beautifully, although the slower pace took me a little while to fall into... I've been reviewing a spate of informational non-fiction and thrillers, it seems, and this one was so clearly a work of literary narrative fiction that I had trouble finding my way into the feel of the language and the character-driven story. Once I did (about 10% in), I relaxed into the story and loved every minute of it.

It's been a while since I read an Emma Donoghue novel. The first one I read, Life Mask, was picked up at a reading by the author in Philadelphia. I was captivated by her style and grace and the language of the book tugged me into the story right away. Ditto with Slammerkin, which was the next title I read. From there, life happened, and it was a while before I stumbled upon her work again - but by then she was in her contemporary phase - and I just couldn't pull myself into Room, for the subject matter, despite everyone's raves.

I really loved her historical fiction because she has a marvelous knack for transporting the reader into a specific time and place through her magnificent attention to the small details (think buttons and fabrics and scents) that make a scene jump off the page and into your head. I think the reason Akin worked so well for me is that, while it is contemporary in setting, so much of the book is dedicated to resolving a life-long mystery that Noah didn't even realize he was living, that it feels historical even though it is not. I loved the way Donoghue drew me into Noah's hunt for meaning, and the way Michael's life overlapped with that quest (both physically, in time, and psychologically). It made for a richly detailed read that tugged at my heartstrings, irritated me, plagued me with concerns that I'd never *really* know what happened, and delighted me with small joys and giggles - exactly as it did for the characters throughout their adventures.

Donoghue is a force to be reckoned with, and in Akin I think she has demonstrated this with aplomb. I may even have to set aside my misgivings and give Room a try...

"Weren't all of us bridges for each other, one way or another?"

I've been a fan of Emma Donoghue's writing from the moment I first encountered her novel Room. I breezed through that book in a day, and I've eagerly awaited each of her works since. The thing I love most about opening a Donoghue novel is that I never quite know what to expect. She seems to be one of the few authors writing today who has no problem bouncing from genre to genre. No matter where her imagination takes her, Donoghue always satisfies with deeply drawn characters, elegant prose, and a keen sense of reality that makes each book a wonder to behold. Based purely upon my enjoyment of her previous works, I happily accepted a copy of her latest novel Akin to review on behalf of her publisher.

As he approaches his eightieth birthday, Noah Selvaggio has much to be proud of. Both Noah and his late wife were acclaimed chemists and professors for years. He still resides in the couples West Side apartment in New York. Though the couple never started a family of their own, they took pride in their work and the young minds they were able to influence. In preparation for his milestone birthday, Noah has decided to take a trip to the place of his birth Nice, France. He hasn't visited the city since he fled the war at the young age of four. Armed with a collection of photos that belonged to his mother, he hopes to revisit the town of his youth and piece together the puzzle that is his family history.

Just when it seems like Noah's quest to rediscover his family's past is all set, a situation with his current family intervenes. With the passing of his sister, there is no one to look after Noah's great-nephew Michael. Michael's mother is currently incarcerated, and it looks like the only thing standing between Michael and foster care is Noah. But surely Noah can't be responsible for a child. Overcome with a sense of familial duty, Noah agrees to take temporary guardianship of the boy. The odd couple of eleven-year-old and soon to be octogenarian must find common ground as they embark on a globetrotting trip to reconnect with their shared roots.

With Akin, Donoghue finds magic in the small moments between adult and child. She perfectly captures the voices of the two drastically different generations and finds humor, emotion, and understanding through the juxtaposition of the two. I was instantly taken by the internal thoughts of Noah. For a man who has prided himself on being one of the most knowledgable people in the room, his struggle to understand the mind of a child is a unique and unfamiliar challenge. Donoghue sprinkles in some mystery surrounding the photos left to Noah by his mother that adds an extra layer of depth to the family history and gives the book just enough momentum to move it beyond just the relationship between the two characters. Superbly written and emotionally satisfying, Akin is another indisputable win from Donoghue.

Initially starting this book before it was published, it made me stressed out. Classy older fellow about to take off for a trip to Europe suddenly finds a teenage relative forced on him by a case worker. It bothered me so much that no one seemed to care about his plans and just expected him to take an extra guest, a rude extra guest, with him to Europe. After receiving a signed copy, I began again and really loved it.

I identified with the older man, with his passion for lifelong learning and exploring. The teenage boy reminded me of many students I've worked with who have experienced trauma. I found this book had so many layers- the relationship between those of different ages, the impact of trauma, cultural differences- both in age groups as well as differences due to geography. There was also the bit about why the older man was going to Europe. He came to the United States as a young boy during World War II and he wanted to discover more about his family history. I'm so grateful that Parnassus picked this as their first edition book club pick because I really enjoyed it!

Noah is unprepared for the social worker's request; to foster his nephew's eleven-year-old son, at least temporarily. He's about to turn eighty, content with his quiet, well-heeled life as a retired academic and planning a trip to the French city he left as a young boy. He and his wife had cut ties with their nephew after he'd stolen from them to support his drug habit, so Noah had never even met his great nephew. But he can't quite brush aside the request, given that Michael's only other option is to be put permanently into the system, where he'll lose all contact with his incarcerated mother. So off they go, a careful elderly man looking for his roots and a unmoored child covering his loss and lack of security with a fierce bravado.

Emma Donoghue takes a few familiar literary tropes (the protagonist looking for his roots, the odd couple, the fish out of water) and approaches them with an unexpected freshness. Every time I thought the novel was falling into a rut, Donoghue surprised me. Noah spends his time in Nice searching for evidence of his mother's years after she'd bundled him alone as a four-year-old to make the long transatlantic voyage to his father in New York, until she joined them after the war. And as he learned both about what happened in Nice during WWII and specifically about his mother, he begins to form a picture of what she was doing in those years. But Noah's research has holes in it, and he's making some big assumptions.

And then there's Michael, a heartbreakingly realistic boy. He's got layers of defense built up and all the habits that seem designed to annoy a cultured old man, from the refusal to eat anything but the familiar to the constant phone time. Donoghue allows Michael to be revealed through Noah's observations and it's beautifully done.

This is a quiet, reflective novel about change, whether utter, life up-ending change or as an adjustment in how a relationship is viewed long after its end. Donoghue manages to inhabit the lives of two characters at opposite ends of their life trajectories and to do so with great empathy. A solid novel that I'll be thinking about for some time to come.

This was a slow, quiet read about two very different people from different generations who had more in common than they realized. It was incredibly frustrating at times because the characters, particularly Noah and Michael, are just so realistic and make such human choices that you want to smack some sense into them. Mostly I enjoyed the fun dialogue and witty repartee between the two; the feel-good aspect was less in fitting with my mood at the time (or maybe in general). I also felt like the mystery of Noah's mother didn't fit quite right, although I guess she had to have an excuse for the pair to travel together. Overall though, a nice read.

I remember reading Room by Emma Donoghue. It was days away from my youngest son's 4th birthday. That first line stuck with me "Today I am three but tomorrow abracadabra I will be four!" After that I proceeded to cry through the entire book. Even though I was crying, I loved this book.

Then Emma Donoghue other novels that were so different from Room I didn't think I would like them so I didn't try. Something about Akin, maybe the passage of time, made me think maybe I could enjoy one of Donoghue's new books.

Michael is an 11 year old boy that seems alone in the world. Dad has died of a drug overdose. Mom is in jail. Grandma has died. There is no one willing to take care of Michael. Desperate to avoid the foster system his case worker reaches out to Noah - Michael's 79 year old Great Uncle on his dad's side that he has never met.

Noah, who has never had children, has out lived everyone in his life. He spends his days having a conversation in his head wife his dead wife. When his sister passed away she made him promise he would do something fun so he booked a trip to Paris and is leaving in a few days.

When it is proposed that Noah take care of Michael the timing couldn't be worse. Soon Noah and Michael find themselves getting to know each other on a trip to Paris. The two couldn't be more different but there a string of DNA that links the two.

I very much enjoyed Akin and will be seeking out Donoghue's other books that I passed by before.

I enjoyed every page of this book, from start to finish. I loved how rascally (but not bad) the boy was, and how the great great uncle accepted it. All in all, a great story.

Emma Donoghue has a gift for achingly accurate portrayals of emotionally wounded children. I wanted to hug Michael, to give him a new phone and to get his mother out of prison. All the subtle details and the slow unwinding of his many hurts and indignities. Brilliant. An Noah too, a widowed 79 year old former chemistry professor heading towards an empty end of life. I was fearful as he stepped up to the challenge of looking after his grand-nephew. It would have been a lot for Noah to look after him even if they'd stayed in NYC, but to take him to Nice. Wow. And wow it turned the story up a notch. Add to all that, the complication of what Noah was looking for when they got to Nice, about what his mother had been up to in WWII, whether he should be proud of her or ashamed. The balancing off of the two relatives, their many backstories, their connections and differences, was such a satisfying read. I'm still thinking about it. Love love love this book.

This book reminds me of a lazy river. It felt as if I lay on a tube and let its gentle pacing guide me through its twists and turns. The book forced me slow down and savor my literary surroundings and when the last page was read, I just wanted to do it again.

An elderly New York professor, Noah’s world changes abruptly when his 12-year-old grand nephew Michael is unexpectedly thrust into his care. Noah has no choice but to have Michael accompany him on his pilgrimage to Nice, France, where he was born. The two make an odd couple as they make their way through the sites of Nice but they slowly form a bond that surprises them both. At the same time, Noah seeks to solve a mystery he found while viewing his mother’s WWII photographs and soon, with Michael’s help, he uncovers a shocking family secret.

I have read a few of Donoghue’s books and have enjoyed them all. Unlike most authors, she writes each book quite differently, yet always manages to portray suspense and poignancy, while deeply engaging the reader. Those who have read Room might not realize that this is the same author, yet they both very successfully work in their respective genres. I fell in love with the very real, sympathetic characters of Noah and Michael and thoroughly enjoyed traveling on their journey with them. It was a beautiful story with just the right amount of suspense and the exploration of several themes.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Little, Brown & Co and Emma Donoghue for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Emma Donoghue is an excellent writer. Her latest installment, Akin, while well written, didn’t quite grab me as strong as I hoped. Elderly Noah takes on the young Michael on his trip to Nice. The geography was wonderful. I can’t quite put my finger exactly why I struggled with Noah & Michael at times.

Historical fiction interwoven with the present day story of the boy and his great uncle. Emma Donoghue shows how the the man's history helps him accept his role in caring for the boy.