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In Search of Adam [Kindle Edition]

Caroline Smailes (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £7.99
Kindle Price: £2.99 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Product Description

Review

‘Will Self and Caroline Smailes are arch-experimentalists’ OBSERVER

‘A stark and shocking tale told unflinchingly yet with outstanding sensitivity’
Dave Hill, author of The Adoption

‘Original, authentic and technically brilliant, Caroline Smailes' In Search of Adam is a debut of remarkable quality and devastating power’
Nicholas Royle, author of Antwerp

Product Description

A taut and beautifully written debut novel by an exciting and accomplished new author.

Motherless, rootless and unprotected, Jude Williams' childhood is fractured by the horror and experience of sexual abuse, forcing her to exist somewhere and nowhere in-between childhood and adulthood. Caught within the limitations of her own language and trapped within a family secret, Jude becomes the consequence of her mother's tragedy. As she moves through the 1980s, Jude's life is buffeted by choice and destiny and she collects experiences that layer her personal tragedy and plunge her into the darkest of worlds.

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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 411 KB
  • Print Length: 333 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1906321027
  • Publisher: The Friday Project (29 Oct 2009)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002TZ3D08
  • Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #47,754 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 68 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful 2 Feb 2008
By H. Redfern
Format:Paperback
I have just finished Caroline's debut novel, In Search of Adam. It's 11:30pm and I'm wandering around my bedroom allowing my heart beat to return back to normal. The book has made me think. It has made me wonder. About Jude. About Adam. And about Caroline Smailes and what an absolute genius of a writer she is. No words I write here can give justice to this brilliant novel.

The book is skilfully written using naïve childish words and sentences that befit the protagonist Jude. It makes the brutal actions she endures so much more shocking, so shocking that I often sat with my hand over my mouth. Caroline's writing is powerful unleashing equally powerful feelings within me. I wanted to go out and hunt this Eddie down. And hurt him. I wanted to swoop down from my settee and pluck Jude from her house and smoother her with the love she needed. I wanted to listen to her, let her speak the words out loud. Look after her.

To say Caroline has pushed boundaries is an understatement. The subject matter is terrifying, gripping, real. But it is her use of language, fonts, the repetitiveness of words and sentences that gives the reader a higher knowledge adding extra dimensions to Jude's story.

This book isn't an easy read. But you know that from the writing on the cover. Maybe for some it is an unnecessary read. For me, however, this book will stay with me long after I have written this review. It was compelling, evocative, honest and cleverly written. I didn't think I would like it because of the subject matter. In the end I loved it. If I could have given it more than 5 stars I would have.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is Unique 27 Oct 2008
By Dr. H. Kara
Format:Paperback
I read fast. Contemporary novels are my favourite and I've read thousands in my life. I've never read anything like 'In Search Of Adam'. I didn't find it an easy read, but I did find it a rewarding one. Caroline Smailes is telling the stories of people who can't tell their stories for themselves. Yes, I know it's fiction - but it's representative fiction. If you're looking for superficial escapist froth, don't buy 'In Search Of Adam'. If you are willing to have your thoughts provoked and your emotions challenged, then read this book, because it won't fail you.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A literary coming of age story 2 Feb 2008
By A. Farin
Format:Paperback
This is a gripping and multi-layered debut novel written from a child's perspective growing up on a council estate in the north of England. In lesser hands such a limitation may have failed, but the author expertly manages to craft a world that is vivid and authentic and above all recognisable: a working class neighbourhood in Newcastle. Yet despite its strong sense of place and setting and the strong, highly sympathetic main character this is a universal story that can be related to by anybody regardless of gender or background.

Jude Williams, the main character, is beset by tragedy and the novel portrays her journey, if not quest, from her initial loss of childhood innocence to the truth about the eponymous Adam and her family secrets. It's a novel rich in allusion, suspense and literary symbolism. It can also be read as social commentary, posing questions about individual responsibility and the role of the community, but leaving the reader always to make up their own mind. Written gracefully with a fine eye for nuance and detail this is the type of novel that - despite its apparent heavy subject matter - is hard to put down. It certainly pays rereading: not only for the exquisite writing, but also for the richness of its texture.

Definitely one of the top novels of 2007.
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars It is so real 22 Jun 2007
By J. Fallow
Format:Hardcover
If you want to be a grown-up, then read this story and sense how adults make childish choices, managing complexity by making selfishness and ease their temporary and disastrous friends. And learn to love Jude, who pays the price for the grown-ups' investments.

I read this on recommendation and finished it in one sitting, something that I have never done before.

Whoever Caroline Smailes is, she has delivered such a variety of insights that this book will ensnare many different audiences. In years to come, I have no doubt that this novel will be an object of study: elegant and simple characterisation, profound insights, vocalisation, simple but so, so profound.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting & Wonderful 22 Jun 2007
By C. Sudbery
Format:Hardcover
This is a beautifully written journey into the life and psyche of a young girl who has suffered greatly. Moving, deeply empathetic and very important.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Be prepared.. 8 Sep 2010
By K. Scott
Format:Paperback
This book is not for the faint hearted! I bought it not realising quite how gritty this book would be. It is very realisitic and at times can be very upsetting. I did feel that some of the scenes a little distrubing.

The writer is very good at making you believe you are also there, and painting a very vivid picture of the most dramatic scenes.

Never the less, a good book, written with a lot of skill and I finished it in next to no time!
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking, moving, beautiful, disturbing ... 12 Jun 2007
By Lindz
Format:Hardcover
I read this book in one compulsive guzzle. At page 3 I began crying. I didn't stop crying (or reading) until several hours later when I had reached the end.

I am a fast reader, I am prone to reading books in one sitting, can eat up 2 novels on a transatlantic flight. But. But this was about Jude. Caroline has created a character who was so real to me, so utterly completely alive for me, that I didn't want to leave her alone. In the moments when I was not reading, when I was crossing the street, in an appointment, stepping on to and off of various trains, I ached to be back with her. I wanted to reach into the book and put my arms around her. I wanted to whisper ... I am here. I am listening. You are not alone.

At times I felt that Jude knew I was there. I don't think I have ever experienced that with a book before. Have you?

In Search of Adam is a sad book. A moving, desperately tragic story. But. But it's not a miserable book. It is without self-consciousness. Without drama. Without sentimentality. Which is remarkable considering the fact that it is a book about child abuse, written from the child's perspective.

There are lots of ways in which In Search of Adam is a clever book too. The use of different fonts and sizes and symbols and the graphic layout of words on the page is not a gimmick. In Search of Adam is bordering on visual art. The use of the fonts, the use of repetition, the layout of words on the page, they are a powerful multiplier of Jude's voice - they tell you things which Jude does not have the understanding or confidence to articulate. They add a layer of meta communication. They are crucial to the story, core to the writing. They are not formatting - weren't added as an afterthought ... I feel that this is how the words came out.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars I search of Adam
Not what I had expected from the first chapter that I downloaded for free very disturbing due to the sexual abuse . Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. G. C. Gosling
2.0 out of 5 stars Irritating.
I really didn't like this book. It sounded like the kind of book I would like in terms of subject, but the actual story did nothing for me. Read more
Published 2 months ago by hemmms
4.0 out of 5 stars I found the style of writing a bit hard work
to read. There was a lot of repetition. It was a sad story of a child being abused and losing family members
Published 3 months ago by hazel
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!
Utterly heartbreaking but so compelling. In Search of Adam was such a heavy book to read, but I never for one second wanted to put it down. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Tishylou
1.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing - NOT a pleasurable read!
I read for pleasure and this was NOT a pleasurable read! I cannot therefore score it highly, however brilliantly or badly it is written. Read more
Published 9 months ago by RavingReviewer
2.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Finish It
I found the book disturbing and depressing and, at 35%, decided there was nothing that could persuade me to read on to the end. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Galning
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, and Hard to Stick With!
I write this review having suffered to read the book to the end. I kept persevering with it, but was disappointed at the way it was written - for instance Jude at one point is... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Juney
3.0 out of 5 stars Depressing
This story stayed with me but the subject matter can't fail to depress. The book is very much a 'curates egg'; the characterization of Jude is excellent but in the same way as... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mrs. Helene A. Sutliff
3.0 out of 5 stars disturbing
I'm not really sure I can add very much to the reviews already written. This was a disturbing read covering a number of difficult issues, also showing insight as to why Jude gets... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Lisa J
3.0 out of 5 stars In search of Adam
Yes the book was quite good but I have difficulty with Caroline Smailes style of writing. This is the second of her books I have attempted, the first one I abandoned.
Published 14 months ago by M. Gough
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Popular Highlights

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&quote;
I began to hear noises. I heard voices. I jumped with fear. I shook. I was cold. Everything was inside of me and it needed to come out. It needed to escape from me. &quote;
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I cried through the pain. I cried out my pain. It was fine to cry. Crying made the pain real. &quote;
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