So many years ago, I picked a random book at Target called Room by Emma Donoghue. I was excited and terrified at the same time after reading the blurb. I don't like to feel the feels, and that book had all the elements to make me sob. It did. I loved it. I recommended it to everyone I could. That was the beginning of my interest in Emma Donoghue's books.

In Akin, she explores life, death, grief, and family links through the lenses of Noah, a 79 y/o retired chemistry professor, and Michael, a sassy-mouthed 11 y/o, his "great" grand uncle. They are paired together under intense and unique circumstances, and they travel together to Nice (France). During this week, their lives will change in more than one way, especially Noah's.

Nice is the background of this story, and it comes alive as part of the characters line-up. The lovely descriptions transported me to the pebbled beaches of the french riviera, its people, culture, and food. I experienced the city through the new eyes of Michael, and Noah's memories of childhood, and passion for history. In particular, the histories of his mother, and his grand-father Pére Sonne during the resistance in WWII.

I loved everything about this book. The characters are so well-drawn and alive. Their interactions felt real. I felt all the feelings I tend to reserve to a few stories per year. Emma Donoghue does it again. Just like in Room, the interactions of child-adult are fundamental to the story. She gives us a smart boy with a mind of his own, and a wise old-timer reflecting on life as he is forced to look at life outside of his comfort zone.

Superb!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company in exchange for an honest review.

Once again, Donoghue has written a sensitive, thought-provoking story. Noah, Selvaggio, a retired chemistry professor, who is childless and widowed, becomes the guardian of an 11 year old great-nephew, Michael.
Michael has quite a complicated past and Noah has had no experience with children and, so, the story begins.
The theme is one that has been explored numerous times but the author manages to make this one stand out.
While revisiting Nice, France, in an attempt to unravel his past, Selvaggio comes across disturbing information as to his mother's background during World War II.
Yet, the sensitivity and humor displayed by both characters keeps you rooting for them to discover each other.
There's enough ambigiuty about their lives to keep you guessing about the past but a feeling of future happiness by all leaves you knowing they will make it together.

Although the premise of this book is interesting and it was a sweet read, it was also pretty quickly forgettable. I really enjoyed the novel "Room" by this author, and will forever pick up her new releases because of that.

This was really a touching story. You couldn’t have two of the more opposites as far as characters go, and bringing them together resulted in a captivating and delightful book. There’s a lot of discovery and growth and everything along the way, and Emma Donoghue told the story admirably.

The retired, childless, widower and 80 year old Noah Selvaggio is told that he is the only viable caretaker for Michael, his 11 year old great-nephew. Michael’s father overdosed, his mother is in prison and his grandmother has just died. Noah agrees to temporary guardianship but he doesn’t want to interrupt his planned trip to Nice, where he was born, so he takes Noah with him. I won’t give away the ending, but trust me you already know how this is going to turn out.

I kept waiting for something/anything to happen in this book, but it never did. There was no touching or illuminating moment; no breakthrough. Given Michael’s background, it was surprising that he was no grumpier than a typical 11 year old boy. The two reluctant relatives spent a lot of time eating (with every meal described) and visiting tourist spots. Noah often tried to educate Michael about history, science, food and general civilized behavior. While in Nice, Noah became obsessed with tracing the origins of a photo of his mother with an unknown child. That led him to a lot of speculation about what his mother might have been doing during the German occupation. There wasn’t anything particularly bad about this book, but I didn’t really see any point to it. If you want a better book about tracing a parent’s wartime past, try “Warlight” by Michael Ondaatje.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Beginning in New York City:
At the start of this novel....
social worker, Rosa Figueroa connects the 79 year old retired-widowed professor Noah Selvaggio, and his 11 year old great-nephew, Michael Young, together.
Michael’s mother, Amber, was in prison.
Michael’s father, Victor, died young from a drug overdose, who was married to Noah’s sister, Fernande.
Fernande was dead too.

Noah lost his wife, his sister, his parents, and his job.
Noah had one friend: Vivienne. Vivienne had been Joan’s best friend. So, through osmosis: and especially with the death of Joan, Noah remained friends with his wife’s best friend/Vivienne.

But mostly, Noah was alone in the world in the same way his great-nephew was also alone in the world.

The only family Michael had - [next-akin] - was Noah.
Michael lost both parents -had no siblings, aunts or uncles.
Oh... and what a little spitfire Michael is!

It’s a treasure dancing along side of Michael and Noah’s relationship. Their growth is sincerely moving.

Noah knew about Michael’s existence....the unstable history of his parents, ....but the two of them had never met.... until... well...
they were to become the odd couple.

I enjoyed getting to know Noah from the start. He was grieving his dead wife Joan, and slightly grieving his retirement as a professor. I was impressed that this older man felt confident to take a pretty big trip alone at his age.
While Noah was packing a suitcase for his trip to France, counting out socks, he was having inner voice conversations with his dead wife, Joan. I felt his loss. I felt his love. I felt his loneliness. I felt sad...
but I was also in ‘aw’ of him.
I felt privileged to begin to know him.

While cleaning out personal belongings- Noah found some old photographs of his mother - which tied into Noah’s overseas trip.
- [ ] Noah’s purpose in going to Nice, France was to uncover wartime’s secrets from his mother involvement with the Nazi’s during WWII. He had many questions. I did too. I was definitely curious about this mystery.

But first back to the circumstances that brought Noah and Michael together.
It felt unlikely to me that a social worker would consider placing the young boy with an almost 80 year old who was about to leave the county.
But... I went with it.
Note: I just finished another book where I had to suspend beliefs in “The Book of Dreams”, by Nina George.
It’s challenging for me to recover my ‘confidence-of-greatness’ for a novel once I’ve had to suspend beliefs.
However ... I ‘did’ recover!!!
Somehow, Emma Donogue pulled it off. Pulled it off great.
My emotions were involved. Emma’s writing is what’s soooo terrific:
the dialogue.... the details... the intimacy... the visuals... the atmospheric tie between the characters and setting... and her ability to know when to use witty humor...and when to be serious.

No question about it... Noah and Michael were an unlikely duo.... but as the story gets moving ... it becomes impossible to put down. Emma knew what she was doing. I was returned to confidence. I could sit back and enjoy the journey....
which I did VERY MUCH.

I came to love the relationship between Noah & Michael.... and I loved them each as individuals.

Emma’s heartfelt journey of mystery, history, family, and love was delightfully-incorrigibly-wonderful!!!

Perhaps another movie?

Thank You Netgalley, Little Brown and Company,
and Emma Donoghue

Another marvelous work by one of my favorite authors. Her prose and plot together have me wishing it wasn't over just yet.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's completely plot driven, though dealing with some huge themes, I would have liked a bit more introspection. It also seemed like the plot points fit together a bit too neatly, I wasn't convinced at how the story played out. While Akin draws parallels between WWII Nice France and inner-city present-day New York in a compelling way and thrusts together an octogenarian and an 11-year old from entirely different backgrounds, I felt that the edges were too smooth. I had expected these juxtapositions would throw out more complications and feel the story would have been better for it.

I've only read one other book by Donoghue (The Wonder) and found it strangely fascinating. I had no idea what Akin was about, but I knew that I wanted to read it. Once I started, within just a few pages, I was hooked. Akin takes us on a story between an old man, and a young (somewhat distant) relative, who are thrown together in awkward and sudden circumstances. They travel to Paris together, and find a way to navigate the newness of their relationship.

Akin is funny, warm, and sometimes even a little heartbreaking. It's a great story about love, and how it begins.

Sometimes I prefer to not read book synopses because they summarize the novel to a spoiler-degree. I think would've enjoyed Akin more had I not already read what was going to happen. The synopsis of this novel even tells us that the old man and young boy get along in the end, yawn -- this made for a predictable, clunky read.
Originally, I was attracted to Akin because the backdrop is a beautiful French holiday in Nice, but that's where the fun ended for me. Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

“Akin” by Emma Donoghue. Little, Brown, 352 pages, Sept. 10, 2019.

Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower living on the Upper West Side, but he was born in the South of France. He is days away from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, when he gets a call.

His great-nephew, Michael Young, 11, is going into a group home unless Noah takes him in. Michael’s mother, who is in prison for drug charges, is opposed to him going to Noah because of Noah’s age.

But until her sister can be located, Michael needs temporary placement. A neighbor can’t keep him longer. Michael’s father, who was Noah’s nephew, died of a drug overdose. His grandmother also died recently.

Noah is almost 80. He is going to France to do research. He discovered some photographs taken by his mother during the two years she spent in Vichy France. Was his mother a Nazi collaborator or part of the Resistance?

Michael is foul-mouthed and obnoxious. Like many kids, he is technologically savvy. Noah tries to be patient with Michael, but he isn’t used to children. He throws a lot of facts at Michael. He doesn’t think about how Michael’s life was, as a poor child who suffered multiple losses.

“Akin” is not as ambitious as Donoghue’s 2010 novel, “Room.” It is slow-moving. The answer to his mother’s mystery is anti-climatic.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

In Akin unusual circumstances make Noah, a retired, childless widower responsible for his great-nephew, Michael, Since Noah was headed to Nice, France where he had lived many years before, a passport was quickly secured for Michael, Not only do they get to know each other on this journey, they also search for information about Noah’s mother’s wartime years based on recently discovered photos. I found the book interesting even if a bit forced to come to the predictable ending.

{My Thoughts}
Akin’s central characters, Noah Selvaggio and his great-nephew Michael, couldn’t have been more different and that’s exactly what worked best about Emma Donoghue’s latest novel. Noah, nearly 80 and a widower, long since retired from his largely academic career. He had his routines and things he enjoyed, but led a quiet life, that was completely upended when a seemingly innocent call ended up with Noah agreeing to temporary custody of his great-nephew, Michael. Michael’s life had been fraught from the start with a drug-addicted father, a mother in prison, and his grandmother, the only stable adult in his life, newly deceased. Noah was a reader, a careful planner, unerringly polite. Michael preferred video-games, and acted on impulse in both words and actions.

The two getting to know one and other, to learn and grow as they accepted the foibles of the other made this a rich story. I enjoyed the shifting perspectives they had about each other and the world around them, and how the two slowly learned to work together. The conversations and misunderstanding between Noah and Michael often left me with a smile on my face. Amidst their story Donoghue embedded a bit of a mystery about Noah’s mother and her life in Nice during WWII, providing a catalyst for the two to join forces.

On the flip side, sometimes the story moved a little too slowly for my taste. This was especially true of Noah’s thoughts, which were often embedded into dialogue and a little confusing. I also struggled with the premise of Michael suddenly being thrust on Noah and less than two days later they’ve secured a passport for him and are jetting off to Nice. That all seemed a little too outlandish. Have you ever tried to get a passport expedited?

In the end, I liked much more about Akin than I didn’t like, thanks primarily to the two endearing characters created by Donoghue and the heartwarming relationship she allowed them to develop.

Note: I received a copy of this book from Little, Brown and Company (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

Family is at the heart of Emma Donoghue's latest book. How do we define family? What sacrifices will we make for those them? And how well do we really know those we love?

The novel presents widowed, childless, and retired professor Noah, on the verge of a trip to Nice, France when is is asked to serve as guardian for teen-aged Michael, a distant relative with a challenging past. Donoghue's previous novels have explored relationships with depth and nuance. I was expecting the same here, but instead felt as though I was reading a book that wasn't compelling enough to be a drama, suspenseful enough to be a mystery, or funny enough to be a comedy. The result was an interesting (but ultimately, forgettable) book.

Thank you to Little, Brown, & Company for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Donoghue is an auto-buy author for me. I fell in love with the way she crafts her stories when I read her best-known novel, Room, and have immensely enjoyed every book of hers I’ve read since.  It was therefore a given that I would request a review copy of Akin, her latest novel.  I was a little nervous since I always hype her books up in my head and then worry they won’t live up to my expectations, but my worries were alleviated as soon as I read the first page and was immediately drawn into the life of the quirky protagonist, Noah Selvaggio.

Noah is a seventy-nine year old retired professor who is about to embark on a trip to the South of France, where he was born.  It’s a trip he has been meaning to take for years, but now that he’s a widower and nearing 80, he knows his time is running out.  While getting his affairs in order for the trip, he is contacted unexpectedly by a representative from Child Services, informing him that his 11 year old great nephew is in danger of being separated from his family if he doesn’t have a relative that he can move in with immediately.  Michael’s mother is in prison, his father is deceased, and no other relatives are able or willing to take him at this time.  Noah has never had any contact with Michael – they are strangers to each other – but after much consideration, he agrees to take him in on a temporary basis.  When he finally meets Michael, he is immediately faced with a mouthy pre-teen who curses like a sailor and who does everything he can to be as uncooperative as possible.  Noah is resigned to the situation though and so this unlikely duo sets off for Nice, France together.

Much of Akin explores the evolving relationship between Noah and Michael, and I just loved every minute of this.  Donoghue has the entire story unfold from Noah’s perspective so we’re in his head as he, who never had children of his own, tries to navigate the minefield of parenthood while dealing with a child who is clearly lashing out because he is in a situation that isn’t of his own making.  Noah is practically walking a tightrope trying to gently parent the child, but without overstepping his boundaries, and it’s very challenging every step of the way.  I really loved watching this pair get to know each other, and I thought Donoghue did a brilliant job of authentically depicting the relationship, with all of its inevitable ups and downs.  They have their fair share of tender moments and frustrating moments, but there are also plenty of laugh out loud moments along the way.

While that relationship is the driving force behind the novel, Donoghue adds a fabulous subplot that I thought just really took the book to another level.  While Noah is preparing for his trip to France, he comes across a packet of old photos in some of his mother’s belongings.  They’re unusual photos that don’t make sense to Noah, but he can see they were taken in France during the 1940’s, so he decides to bring them along to see if the opportunity to learn more about them presents itself.  Noah doesn’t know where to even begin, but his technologically savvy great nephew comes in very handy and helps him identify a hotel in one of the photos.  The hotel, as it turns out, was a headquarters of sorts for the Nazis during WWII.  It was where they brought Jews and other prisoners before shipping them off to Drancy and then to Auschwitz.  I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, especially WWII fiction, so this angle of the story just sucked me right in, especially as it became clear that Noah’s mother had played an active role in the war.  What wasn’t so clear, however, was what side she was on, Resistance or Nazi collaborator.  Noah becomes obsessed with trying to figure out what his mother’s role was because he’s starting to feel as if he never really knew his mother at all. Michael is equally curious since this woman would have been his great grandmother, and so the two of them work as a team to learn the truth.

Emma Donoghue’s Akin is just such a wonderful read on so many levels.  The mystery regarding Noah’s mother is riveting, but it’s that relationship between Noah and Michael that gives this story such heart.  As its title suggests, Akin is ultimately a beautiful story about what it means to be family.  I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories that focus on family, to fans of both contemporary and historical fiction, and of course to Emma Donoghue fans, who are sure to love this gem. I think it’s my favorite Donoghue book yet! 4.5 STARS.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Little, Brown & Company, and Emma Donoghue for the opportunity to read and review her latest novel. I still count Room as one of my all-time favorite novels so I'm always anxious to read her books. Her latest book is again beautifully written - 5 stars in my mind because I loved these characters!

Noah is a retired chemistry professor, living alone in his Manhattan apartment after the death of his wife. For his 80th birthday, he decides to use some money bequeathed to him when his sister died and go to his native hometown of Nice, France. He's days away from leaving when he receives a phone call from a social worker saying that he is the closest relative to his great-nephew, 11-year-old Michael, whose grandmother just died. Michael's father (Noah's nephew) died from an overdose and his mother is in prison on drug charges. Noah begrudgingly agrees to take charge of Michael for a couple weeks while his aunt can be located, which means that Michael will be making the trip to France with him.

The cultural and generational differences are readily apparent and fun to watch the two navigate. There is also a bit of mystery here - Noah found a few photographs in his sister's belongings that his mother apparently took. He investigates their origin while in France.

This well-researched book about a true period in time during WWII could also be a travelogue of the region and people of Nice. But it's the interactions between Noah and Michael that steal the book and your heart. Highly recommended!

Part travelogue, part mystery, and part relationship study, this book was well-written and kept me reading.

This is the newest novel by this very successful author, best known for her book 'The Room'. This book tells the tale of a man about to turn 80, recently retired and a widower, who has planned a trip to Nice, France to explore where he was born and spent his first few years. A few days before leaving he is asked to take temporary custody of his 11 year old great nephew, who will be placed in a group home otherwise. He reluctantly agrees and they both travel to France. The story has some humour as well as some history, as the elderly man tries to discover what his mother did during the war years. While it does not fit neatly into a genre, it is a worthwhile read.

I could not get interested in this book or its plot. An elderly gentleman, grieving the loss of his wife, is set to depart for France searching for mysteries of his own mother's life. At the last minute before his departure, he is informed that he is the sole relative- a great uncle- of a child whose parents have become incarcerated. He decides to accept guardianships, obtains a last-minute passport for the child, and the two of them, odd couple as they are, go off to France.

The child is surly and obnoxious, the older gentleman set in his ways. The subplots did not hold my interest and the interactions between the child and his great uncle , were not sufficiently elaborate to pique my interest.

So this book was solid. I have yet to love one of Emma’s books as much as Room, but this was ok. The mystery was good and I was interested. The characters gave me things to think about, and a reason to keep reading. I liked it alright. Once I get my hands on a physical copy I’ll do a full review on my channel.