Sadie: A Novel

This book is incredible. It is absolutely breathtaking. What a page-turner, it will have you reading it in one go and you'll be left feeling bereft and shaken. You'll feel helpless and sad, but also kind of relieved and proud. Proud of Sadie and all she was able to accomplish, despite the lack of closure you (as a reader) get in the end.Everyone's going nuts over the ending, but I found the ending so realistic, so beautiful, exactly the way it should have been. I applaud Courtney Summers for her courage in writing such a poignant and important story and in ending it so fearlessly.The format of this book reminded me of a documentary format. Almost like I was watching "Making a Murderer", where you follow the series of events that occurred to someone through the eyes of radio producer, West McCray, who following Mary Beth's request (who was like a grandmother to Sadie and basically raised her), is determined to find Sadie and to get to the bottom of things. He does this through a podcast titled ‘The Girls’ to record and report his findings through episodes. At first, he is reluctant to go on this hunt, but his employer basically pushes him to do it. Once he starts his journey, he finds himself drawn into the lives of these people and especially that of Sadie.Sadie is nineteen years old, and has spent her whole life protecting her younger sister, Mattie. Their mom was a junkie, who eventually abandons them, and Sadie makes it her life's mission to protect her sister, first from her mom, then from her mom's countless boyfriends, and finally from life in general. Only Sadie realizes she couldn't protect her well enough, when Mattie is found dead in a ditch. A year later, when the case is closed and the police making little effort in the investigation to find her killer, Sadie sets out to find him herself.We read this story in alternating perspectives, one told by Sadie and the other by West, and it is executed to perfection. I loved Sadie's character, her strength, her stutter and how she managed it, her self-loathing, yet unconditional love for her sister that continued to drive her long after she was gone. I found myself falling in love with Sadie and the incredible selflessness and disregard to her own safety. I found myself rooting for her and applauding her craftiness in getting the information she needed. Her quest to avenging her sister was so pure, so honest, and I hated the guilt that she lived in, and wished I could comfort her and give her the love that she deserved. Sadie broke my heart.I also loved how Summers was able to show us so many different perspectives, and how well she was able to illustrate the "there's a different side to every story" phrase.It's not an easy book to read. There's a lot of violence and shocking content to get through. Topics discussed and portrayed are disturbing and sensitive and dark, but they are also real and thought-provoking and honest.Sadie needs to be read. Sadie is an important book. Sadie is real.

Courtney Summers does something uncomfortably accurate with this book. She perfectly captures the reality of missing girls, how easy it is to overlook the monsters in our midst and most of all the devastation that comes with searching for answers about the loved ones you may never find. It's painfully realistic, the characters are incredibly well constructed and the unique approach is compelling.Sadie's sister died, murdered with a bludgeon to the head, and Sadie's world is completely upended. Mattie has been her sole responsibility since her deadbeat mum upped and left them, and so it makes perfect sense that Sadie would feel an unrelenting need to hunt down her killer.The story is cleverly delivered via Sadie's chapters and interspersed with a podcast called The Girls when Sadie is reported missing too. The radio presenter of the podcast is, after a tip off from Sadie's surrogate grandmother, re-tracing Sadie's steps and trying to find her before something terrible happens to her too whilst Sadie tries to find the man she plans to murder. This mixed media approach really works, it makes the situation feel so authentic with representation from the missing girl but also from the general public and the media revealing information to them as they discover new things. Quite often readers see one perspective; to see both running parallel adds a new dimension to the genre which has undeniably been lacking from similar novels.Sadie is a relentless, headstrong and frightened teenager and her narrative voice is so relatable. I loved that she was equal parts vulnerable and fierce, with a stutter she finds embarrassing and a quick hand in her pocket to stash a knife. I think she probably represents so many grieving families, desperate and heartbroken from their loss whilst angry that the person who killed their love one still gets to go on living. I think Summers has perfectly created Sadie's character; I was so invested in her and really felt like I understood her motives.There is something missing from this novel. I'm not sure what it is really, I think it's perhaps that we don't know very much about the girls lives because the chapters are short and mostly dialogue, and that the story only focuses on the impact of Sadie's case rather than the other missing girls mentioned. I think it's deliberate, a story told at distance to convey the uncomfortable nature of missing information in missing girl cases, but it still left me feeling a little too shielded from the details.Nevertheless, I think this is an intelligent and reliable portrayal of the stark reality of cases like Mattie's and the families left searching and I'd love to see Courtney Summers create more stories to continue to build on the fictional podcast.

On a reread, there are still a lot of things I'm troubled by with this novel. I don't know Summers's history - and it's none of my business - but I feel uncomfortable, as a survivor of CSA, with non-survivors writing narratives like this. Of revenge. Also, I just don't find it particularly original, or fresh, though that's a much less complicated feeling.The ending also feels like a cop-out.I just feel like PTSD and trauma were handled a lot better in All the Rage.But there were good things, too, don't get me wrong. I still gave it three and a half stars.The way the fact that abusers can do good things at the same time as terrible things, it was good to see that. You can't tell who will do monstrous things just by looking at them.The sisterly and daughterly relationships were well done.It was written propulsively and sharply.But I can't get away from the fact that maybe people love this book because it conforms to their expectations of what CSA survivors are like, then because it truly represents us. Maybe that's unfair, but when you take on such a fraught topic, you do invite these speculations, I think.