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The Things That Keep Us Here: A Novel
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The Things That Keep Us Here: A Novel
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The Things That Keep Us Here: A Novel
Audiobook14 hours

The Things That Keep Us Here: A Novel

Written by Carla Buckley

Narrated by Kimberly Farr and Abby Craden

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

How far would you go to protect your family?

Ann Brooks never thought she'd have to answer that question. Then she found her limits tested by a crisis no one could prevent. Now, as her neighborhood descends into panic, she must make tough choices to protect everyone she loves from a threat she cannot even see. In this chillingly urgent novel, Carla Buckley confronts us with the terrifying decisions we are forced to make when ordinary life changes overnight.

A year ago, Ann and Peter Brooks were just another unhappily married couple trying-and failing-to keep their relationship together while they raised two young daughters. Now the world around them is about to be shaken as Peter, a university researcher, comes to a startling realization: A virulent pandemic has made the terrible leap across the ocean to America's heartland.

And it is killing fifty out of every hundred people it touches.

As their town goes into lockdown, Peter is forced to return home-with his beautiful graduate assistant. But the Brookses' safe suburban world is no longer the refuge it once was. Food grows scarce, and neighbor turns against neighbor in grocery stores and at gas pumps. And then a winter storm strikes, and the community is left huddling in the dark.

Trapped inside the house she once called home, Ann Brooks must make life-or-death decisions in an environment where opening a door to a neighbor could threaten all the things she holds dear.

Carla Buckley's poignant debut raises important questions to which there are no easy answers, in an emotionally riveting tale of one family facing unimaginable stress.


From the Hardcover edition.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 9, 2010
ISBN9780307715470
Unavailable
The Things That Keep Us Here: A Novel

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Reviews for The Things That Keep Us Here

Rating: 4.037142908571429 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of those books that you just can't put down. I loved the tension and the tautness. I kept imagining "what would I do?" and am afraid I'd have been an early casualty, not even having the guts to deal with the supermarket. Fine reading and a timely topic.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    "The Things That Keep Us Here" is a well-paced thriller that kept me reading and involved from the beginning to the end. I enjoyed it tremendously, and didn't pause to think about it in depth until I was done. Much like "The DaVinci Code," once I was no longer caught up in the book and had a chance to think about it, I found myself disappointed in a few things.
    First, the positives. Carla Buckley has crafted a timely "what if" novel about the effect of a flu pandemic on the world in general and a family in Ohio specifically. As I first mentioned, the pacing of the novel is excellent, and I read through it without pausing much. As each decision was made by the central characters, much of the pleasure in the reading was imagining what I would do in each situation. The plot in the book became very real to me and I found myself having trouble shaking off the world of Columbus, Ohio as I transitioned from the book world to real life.
    Unfortunately, the characters never became that real to me. I didn't find Ann, the mother of the family, to be terribly likable -- an unfortunate thing since much of the tale was told from her perspective -- and Peter, the father, remains a flat character throughout, although I kept waiting desperately for some growth from him. Happily, the plot carries the book and I still recommend it to those who like the genre; however, keep your expectations low when it comes to the characters. You'll also have to suspend belief a few times in relation to the choices that are made not only by the main characters, but also by those on the periphery and various aspects of government. It also shares a problem with many other thrillers that I've read: the conclusion is wholly unsatisfying.
    All in all, "The Things That Keep Us Here," was a quick and engrossing read. I look forward to Buckley's next book and will definitely read it and hope for more interesting characters and fewer opportunities for me to nit-pick!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    what happens when a true flu pandemic hits? How would you react. Slow and disturbing at first with a great ending. And a little suprise
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Things That Keep Us Here is a work of fiction, based on scientific fact, that asks what the world might look like if the very worst happened and a lethal virus raged uncontrolled. It is written from the intimate perspective of one family in middle America, and most of the action takes place within their home. Would people come together or stand apart? How far would they go to save themselves and their loved ones? In the end, The Things That Keep Us Here is less about the power of a virus to reduce humanity to a shadow, and more about the power of the human spirit to remain untouched.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a book about one families survival during a flu pandemic. Lots of hard choices in this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a sobering, sad, yet ultimately hopefully story about one family's fight for survival during a flu epidemic which turns into a pandemic. Most of the story takes place in their suburban home, but when they do venture out the details are chilling, and realistic: society had broken down, power is out, stores are looted, and basic humanity seems to have fallen apart. The heart of this story is Ann, the mother, wife, and friend, and the decisions that she makes to protect her family. Her choices are difficult, and it is easy to agonize with her. Ms Buckley has done a beautiful job of portraying the complicated relationships & family dynamics that exist. The characters are all well fleshed out, interesting, and engaging. I became absorbed in the story and stayed up all night to finish the book; it is a story that will stay with me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    ** SPOILER ALERT ** I was reading some of the other reviews about this book and it seemed like a lot of people who gave it a lower rating felt like the family couldn't catch a break. I guess they thought it seemed unrealistic. I disagree though. Everyone has family problems; that was completely separate from the pandemic. Also, the stuff about the empty grocery stores, gas stations and looting seemed realistic to me. We once had a power outage that lasted eight days and every grocery store's shelves were compl...more I was reading some of the other reviews about this book and it seemed like a lot of people who gave it a lower rating felt like the family couldn't catch a break. I guess they thought it seemed unrealistic. I disagree though. Everyone has family problems; that was completely separate from the pandemic. Also, the stuff about the empty grocery stores, gas stations and looting seemed realistic to me. We once had a power outage that lasted eight days and every grocery store's shelves were completely bare. Add in another week or two of lost power and a pandemic and I think looting is believable. Even looting other people's houses. So I didn't think the shooting thing at the end was off either. These people are desperate.There were a couple things Ann and Peter did that seemed completely stupid to me. One was at the beginning when they first lost power. Ann had Peter cook up all the meat since the freezer didn't work. Hello.... They lost power because of a snow storm. They should have buried their frozen meat in the snow rather than eating it all at once. And later in the book when Peter took the truck out and almost hit the kid who ended up stealing his truck and coughing on him. Why in the world did he stop and roll down the window and then keep talking to an angry, aggressive kid? He should have just driven away. And both Peter and Ann should have given the incubation period a bit longer just in case. I saw that one coming from a mile away. And it took both of them way too long to figure out they should go to the crazy survivalist's house (who was obviously dead) and nab his large supply of water and canned food Peter had spotted.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This story was very unsettling because it could happen to us at any time. I was discussing it with my husband, and we both agreed that if this were to really happen, he and I would probably not survive.Carla Buckley brings to life a very real and frightening event of the worst kind.....a pandemic. It happens quickly, and within days many people are sick and dying. While I was reading, I realized exactly how much I take for granted in life. Shaken to the core after reading this book, I won't take anything for granted any more....electricity, medical care, clean and safe water to drink.....and most of all, my family.The Things That Keep Us Here is an engrossing read, that kept me thinking about it while I was not even reading it. I will remember it for a long time, and I will also be looking forward to more books by Carla Buckley.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book in an afternoon. Not because it was a light read nor a quick read. But because it was SO GOOD. It's intriguing, lots of interpersonal drama, good scares and reality. Read the back of the book. Then read the book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A great page-turner about a family trying to survive a flu pandemic. Very emotional.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow---what a book! Not looking at the other reviews I can just see by the number of them that a lot of people are reacting to this book. It's almost too realistic---so descriptive and detailed and emotional---yes, quite frightening, but I loved it. It was written with so much completeness to the whole picture--very impressive.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the story of one family's struggle to survive an avian influenza pandemic. I love this sort of apocalyptic survival story, so I had to pick this one up as soon as I heard about it.In some ways, The Things That Keep Us Here reminded me a lot of Life As We Knew It, a book that I loved when I read it a couple of years ago. Society shuts down and people withdraw into their houses, trying to draw out their food supplies and gathering firewood to keep them warm through a winter without electricity.Where Life As We Knew It is YA, though, this is an adult book, maybe more specifically a "woman's book". Ann is a mother going through a divorce and still trying to come to grips with the death of her infant son ten years before.I appreciated the extra length and depth that an adult book allows, but I did find it hard to relate to relate to Ann's character, especially at first. Maybe it's because I'm not a mother myself. There was one scene in particular, near the middle of the book--don't read this paragraph if you're afraid of slight spoilers--, where Ann's best friend, dying of influenza, knocks on the door and begs Ann to take her baby. She says that the baby already had the flu, so he's now immune and not carrying the virus. But Ann, thinking that a mother would say anything to save her child, doesn't believe her and leaves the baby outside on the doorstep in the cold, rather than risk infecting her own daughters. I have to say, I found this really shocking. But at the same time, the fact that the book raises such difficult moral issues is one of its greatest strengths.I do want to emphasize that this book is about family, not about society. Other than the increasing lawlessness, we hear hardly anything about what's going on in the outside world. And maybe this is for the best, because I found the parts that dealt with society's broader response to the problem were some of the weakest in the book and often just didn't ring true. We know that schools would close, yes. But would the university dorms close with only a few hours' notice, leaving some students with nowhere to spend the night? Would researchers studying avian influenza immediately be told that the building was closing and they had to go home? All of this supposedly happened when the WHO pandemic alert level reached Stage 5, but we actually got to Stage 6 last year, and the world didn't pre-emptively shut down.So it was just as well that this book focused on family. As contact with the outside world disappeared, the story just got better. And it was fast-paced and interesting all the way. I'm definitely glad I read this one.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I will tell you right now that this book will probably be in my top 10 books of 2010. It was a fantastic pre/post pandemic story of survival. I had chills within the first few pages of this book. Carla Buckley has done a wonderful job with her first novel.In "The Things That Keep Us Here" we follow the story of a family of four facing issues that are heart wrenching on their own only to be hit by a H5N1 pandemic. Carla formed a frighteningly real tale of what happens to the world in general when faced with a major crisis.I will say that I cried many times during the book; mostly because of the mother Ann, and her fight to keep her family together and alive. It makes you think about what you would do if ever faced with this very real threat. Are you prepared?This book was (in my opinion) a truly great piece of fiction and I recommend it to readers. Carla Buckley is a fantastic writer and I can definitely see myself becoming a long time fan of her work!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am not finished yet, but am compelled to write after reading other reviews. No matter whether you lked, loved, or disliked this book. There is one question that lingers for all of us readers. Under the same circumstances WHAT WOULD I DO????????? Would I turn into a mother bear with her cubs, would I run away, would I reach out......No one really knows until the time comes. We like to think we know, but we do not. This is the truth of a well written book. To make the reader believe in it's truth. And to make us imagine ourselves in th situation. Bravo on both counts to the author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Considering all the media time devoted during the last year to the possibility, if not probability, of H1N1 or bird flu pandemics, it is surprising that so few novels have yet been written about the societal breakdown that might accompany either event. Catastrophe of that magnitude offers fertile ground to those writing in several genres: horror, science fiction, romance, literary novel, etc. - so it is only a matter of time, I suspect, before such novels appear in large numbers. "The Things That Keep Us Here," Carla Buckley's debut novel, is one of those books. Buckley's novel combines elements of more than one genre to show what might happen if the world were suddenly forced to deal with a highly contagious flu virus capable of killing half of the people it infects. Peter, a veterinary science researcher, and Ann Brooks have been separated for a year. The two seem headed for divorce but, for now, Ann has gone back to work as an elementary school art teacher and she is helping her thirteen and eight-year-old daughters cope with the change in their lives. Part of Peter's job is to monitor the bird activity on a nearby Ohio lake for any signs of illness in the thousands of ducks and geese making it their temporary home. When, early one morning, he finds a massive bird kill on the lake, Peter suspects that the ducks have been killed by avian flu and he can only hope that the virus has not mutated to a form capable of infecting human victims. Almost before Peter can confirm his worst fears about the virus strain, the country finds itself bracing for an invasion of a flu virus even more deadly than the one that killed millions during World War I. Columbus, Ohio, shuts down its schools and tells its citizens to prepare to isolate themselves until the worst is over. The resulting mad scramble for food, water and medical supplies brings out the absolute worst in some but is only a mild preview of what is to come. Peter, along with his exotically beautiful graduate student, a young Egyptian woman with no other place to go, moves in with Ann and the girls for the duration. Within days, the city loses power during a massive snow storm and all communication with the outside world is cut off. Grocery stores open only upon receipt of random deliveries and, when the city water supply is contaminated, running out of food and bottled water becomes a distinct possibility. On the one hand, sheer boredom becomes a problem for everyone inside the Brooks home. On the other, life boils down to a struggle to stay warm and to survive on a rapidly diminishing supply of food and water. Nothing else matters. Buckley's focus on what the Brooks family sees with its own eyes comes at the expense of the bigger picture. What happens in one Columbus neighborhood is interesting - and horrifying - but it is only one neighborhood. Rather than giving some hint as to what might be happening to the national and state governments, the military, and government emergency agencies, Buckley concentrates on things like family loyalty, individual courage, core values, guilt and forgiveness as she delves deeply into the Brooks family history. Despite the detailed back story and interesting conflicts provided, however, the main characters tend to fall surprisingly flat and their ultimate fates are not hard to predict. Some readers will be satisfied with the romance novel elements of the book; others will wish Buckley had explored more of what this kind of pandemic would mean to the country, and the world, as a whole. As it is, what Buckley describes about human nature under these circumstances is not far different from the behavior shown in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Rated at: 2.5
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The world as we know it, devastated by an influenza virus carried by birds? Don't say it can't happen. It can; it has. No, let me correct that. There has been no bird flu pandemic of yet, but there have been outbreaks of bird flu that caused deaths and left lingering disability in victims. It might have been about seven years ago, here in the Tidewater region of Virginia where I live, that there were reported cases of avian borne influenza that hospitalized a number of people. Some died; some remained in hospital for a long time then had to go through physical therapy to regain strength. I know because one such gentleman was in an aqua therapy class with me. He had been in the hospital almost a year!Carla Buckley takes the notion that an avian borne influenza might be the next pandemic and explores how we would handle it in her debut novel, The Things That Keep Us Here. Buckley takes us inside the life of one family in middle America, the family of veterinary medicine researcher, Peter Brooks, his wife, Ann, and their two young daughters and lets us observe what happens when they are faced with the pandemic.In a sense, the Brooks family is luckier than most. Peter Brooks is one of the first to be aware of the threat of the flu and is able to advise his estranged wife of precautions to take to help her and their children avoid exposure. However, things move faster than anyone anticipates and the Brooks family is just one more competing for increasingly scare resources like food, water and medicine.To complicate matters, there is a mysterious tragedy in the past that has caused Peter and Ann to grow apart so that when conditions force Peter and his beautiful research assistant to seek shelter in the Brooks home, there is added tension. Crowd three tense adults and two bored and restless children into one house to isolate them from the risk of infection, and it's amazing that life continues as smoothly as it does.Buckley does a great job of realistically describing the mad scramble for scarce resources, the sort of precautionary tactics that might be used to keep the risk of infection down and the make-do attitude families would need to adopt under such conditions. Once the realism of such details is firmly in place and the reader is fixed in a world where the electricity might never again come on, and a meal might be mustard on crackers, she hits hard asking what we would do to protect our family. Would we forsake a dear friend, a neighbor, because we are afraid that helping them might open the door to the risk of infection? Would we remain isolated or reach out and band together? Hard questions. Would we give up all notions of civility for reasons of safety and expediency?It's a bleak scene that Buckley paints, to be sure. As a reader, I felt it keenly. What I had trouble with, or was unhappy with, was the ending. After the slow and steady buildup of the world of the pandemic, the post pandemic world seems to come rushing at us. Poof! It feels like a chunk of the novel is missing. The transition following a death in the family and the remainder of the family's retreat to a rural location lacks something. Suddenly, it seems, the remaining members of the Brooks family are again gathered at their old home but years have passed. Ann's earlier worries about the effects of the pandemic on her daughters' development are inadequately touched on. The old tragedy in the family has been revealed in an unsatisfactory way.And what are the things that keep us/them here? Does Buckley refer to that which will allow us to survive in such situations? Or does this refer to Ann's return to the old house, the old neighborhood which has seen so much devastation? What would make her want to return? Loyalty to the family member who did not survive? A testimony to family, friends, and neighbors who died in the pandemic that life goes on? Decide for yourself when you read The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The novel does a great job of describing the relationships between the characters, but fails to give the reader any sense of crisis. The relationships evolve slowly, center on the past and do not adapt to the urgency of the situation. Although logistical problems are mentioned, the characters never start to act as if they are in a dire situation. At the end the solutions to all sorts of logistical problems are left to the reader's imagination. The author fails to tell how the characters survive the crisis. The novel would receive four stars from me if not for the flu.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In a time where a pandemic virus is all too familiar, this book really hit home. Especially since I am from Columbus, OH, the all too familiar setting where you'll find a family struggling to fight the H5N1 virus that is rapidly spreading throughout the state. With a 50% mortality rate, days of power outages and extreme food shortages, Carla Buckley paints a clear picture of the chaos that surrounds a family during a pandemic.I found the subject and story line to be compelling and haunting. As certain events unfolded, I not only found myself analyzing the decisions made by Peter and Ann in regards to their children, but pondering what I would do in their situation.I'd recommend this book as a quick read and one that will definitely remind you of how precious life can be.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I almost couldn't finish this book - it is so realistic and it made me remember I haven't got my flu shot yet! What if the worst happened again, as in 1918? This fictional story follows a family, their neighbors, their city, and the US during a flu pandemic, as it continues to wreak havoc all over the world. How will our government and hospitals handle a 50% mortality rate? How will food be distributed to stores? How will we cope with death on our doorstep?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    **Spoilers**There are two books that are my "gold standard" for post-apocolyptic killer virus literature -- Stephen King's The Stand and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. Alas, this one didn't register for comparison for two reasons. First, the author tried to cram every other possible tragedy on top of the flu -- child's death, bad marriage, parental issues, cancer, allergies...the list goes on, that I couldn't engage on where I needed to focus. There was already a major interesting storyline -- I wanted to scream "don't try so hard" at the author whenever another thread was added. Second, the main character, Ann, was quite simply, annoying. The fact that she thought her husband was cheating with his lab assistant (I think it was obvious that was not the case) and knocked her up, put her straight into blithering female category (she wanted to "talk" to her husband about everything else, this seems like a good topic). Moreover, whether dealing with her husband, children, or best friend she seemed incredibly selfish. That being said, while the premise was interesting, it all happened too fast to be realistic (note: the US would be looking more toward federal agencies than WHO in taking directives and actions) and it was pure cliche -- looting, fear of contagion, price gauging, etc . And, just out of curiosity, did none of the characters have a cell phone charger? Further, instead of going down every possible tangent, it might have been more effective to have some serious character development -- Shazia, Peter, and Libby were all interesting characters...a little more there, and a lot less of Ann's whining would have made for a great read. So, while it is a great premise and an interesting first work by Buckley, I'll hold to my initial suggestions in the genre because they capture the possibilities so perfectly.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was another LibraryThing Early Reader prize from Bantam Dell. The timeliness of the subject matter cannot be ignored, and Ms. Buckley does a tremendous job of showing what could have happened (or may yet happen) with H1N1. Given all the hype over that particular virus, the fact that I was reading about H5N1 rather than H1N1 was surreal but made the story that much more realistic. I found the what-if scenario the most compelling part of the story. Not only did I get an idea of what could happen during a pandemic, Ms. Buckley gives the reader ideas on how to prepare for future events. I never considered the full implications on our infrastructure if a large portion of the population died or was forced into isolation and quarantine. As a result of the story presented by Ms. Buckley, I am now contemplating changing my own state of preparedness for emergencies and crises. Unfortunately, there is no doubt this is a debut novel. While the story itself was interesting, the backstory is not well-developed. In fact, I found myself guessing at the different pandemic phases mentioned throughout the story to understand the characters' actions better. Character development is also lacking, as I never felt what compelled each character to act the way he or she did. While I understand that Ms. Buckley was trying to build suspense by not giving away the full story, there were holes left in the story that were never completely resolved and that prevented me from truly becoming enveloped in the story. Overall, I am very impressed with Ms. Buckley's effort. The story itself is quite enjoyable and suspenseful in spite of the holes. I liked it enough to pass it along to my husband and request that he read it as well. I look forward to future efforts by Ms. Buckley!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another great Early Reviewers selection! This fictional account of a bird flu pandemic gave a very realistic (and scary) look at human nature-from the first visit to the grocery store to the raiding of the neighbor's empty home. The characters were multi-faceted and were developed well throughout. The maternal instincts are well represented when faced with the safety of your own children and the needs of the best friend's infant. With H1N1 outbreaks in the news, the story was very timely and allowed many opportunities to reflect of current events. I only wished the story could have gone on longer.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    With interesting characters and a very original plot, this book was a very enjoyable read, and very well written as well. The central characters, Ann and Peter Brooks, are caught up in a swelling flu pandemic and make some emotionally hard choices in an increasingly tense situation. Readers will find it hard to put this book down. The book's portrayal of a society that steadily deteriorates as essential services are lost one by one is chilling in its believability. The marital relationship of the central characters is emotionally real. I highly recommend this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is an absolutely haunting, beautiful and terrifying story, and a wonderful debut book from an author with exceptional promise. I read this book over 3 weeks ago, and am still thinking about it. The Things That Keep Us Here is the story of an average family, and a world struck by a pandemic of bird flu. This virulent flu, H1N5, spreads rapidly throughout the world, killing half or more of the people it infects. Even without the eerie timeliness of the topic, this book would still haunt me. Written in detail that makes the family and their neighbors all seem real and average, it strikes a chord with the reader, making it seem all the more plausible. I was drawn in from word one. The characters were finely drawn, and their personalities, warts and all, presented to the reader with no apology and no political correctness concerns. They are believable, and even the less savory characters and aspects of personality ring true, and do not make the characters any less believable or likeable. I found myself wondering over and over, would I be prepared? How would I handle a similar situation? Hard questions, some painful and thought-provoking answers when I considered my personal probable response to such a catastrophe. Many of the situations raised in the book are great for provoking spirited discussion, I think this would make an excellent selection for a book club. I am eagerly awaiting Carla Buckley's next book, and have already passed this on to my sister.....and have a dear friend waiting to read it also. I will definitely be posting info about this book online, and hope the author receives the attention she so richly deserves for this work.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Although Carla Buckley's debut novel has a timely and compelling topic, the treatment of a global flu pandemic is mediocre. This is the type of book I call an "airplane book". You can get it at the airport, read and/or skim it on the plane, figure out the ending, and leave it for someone else. The characters were shallow and there struggles were ordinary. The idea that an entire community would insulate themselves from one another in a crisis is unrealistic. The situations that the main characters encounter are beyond belief. It seems as if every conceivable horror is faced by one family. This is an "easy" read. It will undoubtedly become a best-seller due to its topic. American popular culture loves tragedy, as long as it happens to someone else.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love a good apocalypse story, a dystopia story, an all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end story, and I loved this one. The plot resonates with anyone who has followed the news in the last few years: SARS,bird flu, then swine flu...and when will the next true pandemic begin?What I enjoyed about the book was that the characters were flawed, their judgement and motives at times questionable or downright distasteful, but I was still interested in reading their stories. The author asks some insightful questions about how the fabric of society might break down when merely being in proximity to another person means risking one's life. This was the first real page turner I've read this year, and after setting the book down I wandered around in a daze for a few hours, my mind still transported to the bleak world I had been reading about. Nice work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This one found it's way on my front door stoop just a few days before the nor'easter that recently hit the east coast. Well timed because if it weren't for three days without electricity and an unsettling amount of time camped in a coffee shop like a refugee, it would likely have been weeks before I would have attacked this book. I've thought it through and attacked is the correct verb. For it was done and victoriously shelved in two sittings.The story read well -- a real don't-want-to-put-it-down type of book. But what was really interesting was the superbly timed subject matter. It was, personally, regionally and nationally, quite relevant.A quick scan of the back of the book told me that a virus was spreading through the nation and what would a mother do to protect her family. Not something I would normally pick up. Too sensationalist sounding, right? Well, yes, it was a page turner but it was oddly not sensational. Not sensational since much like the book, we are facing a flu pandemic. And much like the book, I was struggling with being cooped up in a home without power. Annnd... well, that's about where the parallels ended. But it was enough to hook me.The story is a very easy read and unfolds smoothly. I found myself wanting to continue reading - to find out more. Never board, which I often am, even with a good book. Overall, I really enjoyed it. And now that the power is on, by bones warm and belly filled, I'll have to contemplate the deeper issues the book addressed. Because, to be honest, it left a lot to think about. Hmmm.... I suppose that would make this an excellent book club type of book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Things That Keep Us Here is an exceptionally painful book at times. Not because it's awful but because awful things happen. There's just enough room left between the lines to imagine what would happen "if." If the pandemic we've been panicking about for the last year really did happen (although in this case it's H5N1) and if it was so much worse than we ever expected. If you're looking for one of those epidemic books where you can't go three words without hitting a very long, very garbled scientific explanation, this is not the book for you. There's enough science to keep things rolling at the beginning of the book, but for the most part Things expects that you already know that a pandemic is the worst nightmare you've never given quite enough thought to before.Instead, the book works because it focuses on how one family's world implodes during the aftermath of the avian flu. Simple things like grocery shopping or stopping to talk to a neighbor become far more dangerous than one would imagine and therein lies the hook. You're forced to stop and wonder what you would do in each circumstance. Would you continue to go to work at a job that would constantly expose you to the deadliest disease in decades? Would you pay nine dollars for a can of tuna or would you be the person who feels justified in price gouging to such an extreme? Would you let an infected friend in when they came begging for help or would you lock the door?There are a couple of issues I have a bit of a hard time with in Things. When trying to explain this awesome (but horrible for my ability to sleep and then go to work at a job where people seem to delight in sneezing right in your face) book, I realized the shopping trip that made me so angry I was shaking (on behalf of the characters) happened... Day One. And I'm not really sure that people would degenerate quite that quickly on the first day of an announced pandemic. Day two, sure. But day one seems a bit premature, particularly when the general population hits the mall on days two and three. The scene is a good one but I fear it happens a little too early.Also, when looking back on the book, there seems to be an overabundance of back story drama. On the one hand, it doesn't seem to be quite so much while actually reading the story. On the other, after it's all said and done, I can't help but think... that's an awful lot of crap thrown at them before the book even started. Was it just to push Ann and Peter's marriage to the breaking point? The way it comes across in the book, they seem to have just never really recovered from losing their son, William. Do they really need Alzheimer's, a probable suicide, and cancer all thrown in the mix as well? This isn't to say it's not realistic but looking back it does seem a bit like overkill.Even with these small flaws that may apply only to me, I couldn't put the book down. I originally planned on reading maybe a chapter or two every morning after work but that first day I managed to read halfway through before I even realized what I was doing. The story haunts even as it races along.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Things That Keep Us Here blew me away! It's a fantastic read, a page-turner of the highest order. The subject matter of the flu pandemic so timely that it's frightening, Ms. Buckley handled the explosive topic with amazing grace and style. Her characters live and breathe, they are so believable. The only time I put this book down after opening it was to calm myself down when it hit so close to our current reality of the H1N1 pandemic that it made my heart skip a few beats. Amazing book....I've already called my favorite local bookstore to make sure they order plenty of copies. I would be surprised if this novel doesn't end up as a major film within a year or two.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    By the time Carla Buckley's novel is published in February, I hope that the swine flu outbreak will have subsided. In this book, H5N1 influenza, with a 50% mortality rate, frighteningly reaches pandemic in a matter of weeks. Buckley focuses on one family in Ohio and their efforts to stay safe during the pandemic. Peter and Ann Brooks have been separated for a year and are about to formally divorce when the flu strikes. Their two daughters are angry, confused and acting out. Peter and Ann reconcile to keep their daughters safe during power outages, food shortages, and violence that escalates as people die.On one level, this is an exciting survival story that feels very real and plausible. But the book is much more than that. As all four family members struggle, their characters reveal more and more about themselves. We come to understand how fragile marriage is, how vulnerable children are, how easily we lose our true essence in day to day life. Only when we confront a huge challenge do our true selves emerge. A very satisfying story on many levels and for all readers. You will never forget the baby on the doorstep....