Comments on: Review: Stolen

By: Jerry Ingram jr.

Jerry Ingram jr. — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:31:59 +0000

This is Lotita lite. why is this being offered to our kids? why is it offered by Scholastic? Isn’t there some body (besides parents) who cares how these things are classified, and to whom they are peddled?

By: Liz B

Liz B — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:54:13 +0000

Jennie, it is very interesting to compare the two books! Living Dead Girl is so haunting.

By: Liz B

Liz B — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:53:09 +0000

Pam, this is one of the books where I wish we were all in a room together for the conversation to take place in real time and in real life. I can understand being sympathetic to Ty — what I don’t understand (and I’m talking in general about reviews I’ve read or comments I’ve read) is that the sympathy (for some) becomes both acceptance of what Ty does and normalization of what Ty does. Both that what he did becomes OK with the reader as well as “well of course someone would do that.” Or, that the “only” thing he did wrong was kidnapping when he did many more things than that which were wrong.

And then there is the sympathy extends beyond the book — that is, as you say “I shouldn’t have been” (realization by reader, like Gemma’s, which, as you point out, good writing) as opposed to the comments I’ve read that continue not just the sympathy (poor Ty) but add to it a romantic element (Ty & Gemma forever, what a shame they are not together at the end of the book, hope that a sequel shows these two lovebirds reunited, that Ty did the right thing in kidnapping Gemma).

That has nothing to do with the writer. It has to do with the reader response. What I’m saying here is what I’d say to the reader (teen or adult) in real life — Ty is not a romantic hero.

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:59:52 +0000

I think I didn’t do well at conveying my mixed feelings. I loved the book loved, loved, loved, but why? There was struggle and grit but I was sympathetic to Ty. I shouldn’t have been. The writer does her job.

By: Stolen by Lucy Christopher (2010) « Dog Ear

Stolen by Lucy Christopher (2010) « Dog Ear — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:47:35 +0000

[...] other reviews: Bookalicious, A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy, Persnickety Snark, and Wondrous [...]

By: Flamingo House Happenings » Blog Archive » Stolen

Flamingo House Happenings » Blog Archive » Stolen — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:27:08 +0000

[...] be Stolen. It just figures. I should have known better. I had plenty of warning. I should have read Liz B’s post before I reserved this one. Or maybe it’s good that I didn’t, I might have decided not [...]

By: jennie samson

jennie samson — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:12:23 +0000

I liked Stolen, but I was startled to see this get a Printz Honor when Living Dead Girl, which I though was far more raw and a better written book, never got that kind of recognition.

By: Liz B

Liz B — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:56:43 +0000

Angela, YES YES YES about Ty’s removal of Gemma’s agency. And seriously, Gemma’s depiction of her home life seemed, well, average. Nothing more, nothing less. This, leaving typical parents & suburban lifestyle, justifies kidnapping her, taking away all her choices? One of my favorite parts of the book is at the end, when the mother basically gives Gemma back her power of autonomy: you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.

By: Liz B

Liz B — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:46:58 +0000

Jackie, I think Ty created certain lines that he wouldn’t cross to prove to himself that he wasn’t a “bad” person and that he was doing a “good” thing. I think some readers may be buying into his line-drawing. He resists physical or sexual assault, either because (like you said) his own past victimhood or because he thinks, “bad people hit, I don’t hit, therefore I am not bad.” The age thing is another artificial line he creates, insisting his desire for Gemma didn’t “really” begin until she was 14, an age when he believes it is more acceptable to desire her than at age 10.

I had originally been thinking of “cop out” as to readers who (IMHO) are using the “he didn’t hit her” excuse for liking Ty. But I see I was ambiguous!

And I agree with you about the horror of his actions, and his being viewed as a romantic hero.

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:45:51 +0000

Liz – Love your point about not wanting to be saved, so Ty instantly lacks appeal that way. I was explaining my thoughts on this to my husband (who hasn’t read the book), and while he can see the appeal of an ambiguous “villain,” Ty would lose a lot of sympathy from him because he removed all of Gemma’s agency when he drugged her and took her from that airport. And I think that was the root of the problem for me, too: Ty cannot be sympathetic for me because he doesn’t see Gemma as a person who can make valid life choices. He doesn’t offer to help her get away from the parents she dislikes – he kidnaps her.