Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Title: Stolen 

Author: Lucy Christopher 

Rating: 5 Stars

I literally just put down Stolen and my brain...it can't think. I just need to let this book sit and saturate into me, every part of me because it can and it will and I will let it.

I do want to say, however, that Stolen was not what I expected. When I went into it, I was almost expecting an eventual romance, but there is none and I'm glad there isn't. Stolen is a novel of abduction, but it is also a novel of hope and faith and beauty. I only really fell in love with Stolen seven pages from the end; until then, I was on the fence. I think, more than anything, I was confused while reading this, which is what you're supposed to feel... You see, this book is such a mind-fuck (excuse my language, but there is really no other better way to put it) because on one hand, you despise Ty for stealing Gemma, for taking her away from her home, for stalking her for so many years, for making her life miserable; but, at the same time, I despised Gemma whenever she destroyed Ty's art, when she hurt him with her words, when she mocked him and his love for his desert, when she failed to even try to understand him the way he so obviously understood her...

Stolen isn't a romance and for 90% of the novel, Gemma is constantly trying to run away from Ty, to escape her predicament. Yet, somewhere, she realizes that some of what Ty says is true; society is terrible and cruel and parents really don'tunderstand their children and sometimes even friends don't and terrible things do happen. But, that gene that tells you in your brain that you have to accept the bad things and move on, that you can't save everyone, that maybe even you can't save yourself...it wasn't in Ty. Yes, Ty steals Gemma, but he steals her because he thinks he's doing the right thing. Unknowingly, Gemma saves him as a child and he wants to return the favor. It's so mind-boggling because Ty isn't a bad person; he's nice to Gemma, he never harms her or takes advantage of her in any way, he clothes her and feeds her and shows her the beauty of the desert; but he's wrong in his own right, too.

"I can't save you like that Ty.

What you did to me wasn't this brilliant thing, like you think it was. You took me away from everything - my parents, my friends, my life. You took me to the sand and the heat, the dirt and isolation. And you expected me to love you. And that's the hardest bit. Because I did, or at least, I loved something out there.

But I hated you too. I can't forget that." 

Stolen, I felt, was a social commentary of sorts. It's difficult to understand and comprehend properly and it's painful because of that, because of the confusion we feel and the sudden desperation as we want to escape to a desert, see the sunset, and live alone, but happy, without the burdens of society and expectations of our parents and disappointments of our friends. In life, however, there are always two paths: the right one and the wrong one. From my experience, the wrong one is always the easiest, but leads to eventual downfall, just as the right one is full of hurdles, but ultimately leads to happiness. In Stolen, however, all the lines are blurred; just the way I like it in a truly fantastic novel.

I will warn you, reading this novel is a strange experience. I felt uncomfortable, not knowing where the plot was leading, not knowing what I wanted to happen, but I feel better now that it's over. In some ways, I feel like this novel is better for a re-read than anything else, an opportunity to understand what really happened and where Gemma started to feel something more than hatred for Ty. One of the things that did surprise me, however, was how un-original Ty's story wound up being. Now, I won't say that it isn't terrible and cruel and painful, but the path that Ty took seems so much more strange than most people in his situation. I think, however, that to become a stalker like Ty, to become obsessed with a person, to think that you're saving them...you don't need to go through a unique traumatic experience for that. Anything, even something as small as six-year-old Gemma talking to him, a stranger, can alter the mind in such a way; after all, who are we to know the depths and recesses of our brains and how events can affect you?

"It sounded weird to hear you talk so much; normally you only said a few words at a time. I'd never imagined that you'd have a story, too. Until that moment, you were just the kidnapper. You didn't have reasons for anything. You were stupid and evil and mentally ill. That was all. When you started talking, you started changing." 

As for me, I don't know what to think. Yes, I do think Gemma suffered from a form of Stockholm Syndrome, I do think she makes the right decision, I do think Ty is slightly insane, I do think he is a good person, I do think his axis in life is just a little off...but I don't see Ty as a monster and neither do I see Gemma as a tortured abduction victim. If anything, there is too much of a silver lining to this tale. It's sad and depressing and unhappy, but it's also right and true and beautiful.

"And, let's face it, you did steal me. But you saved my life, too. And somewhere in the middle, you showed me a place so different and beautiful, I can never get it out of my mind. And I can't get you out of there, either. You're stuck in my brain like my own blood vessels." 

Lucy Christopher, I will read anything you write. Anything. Especially if it's a sequel to Stolen that I hope you will eventually write onto paper instead of keeping locked up in your head. I do have to admit, however, that the ending to this is perfect and it doesn't need a sequel at all. I wouldn't mind if a sequel was written, but I don't need one either. Just this gem of a novel is enough...

I realize this is long, but it's also not much of a review, for which I apologize. It doesn't even begin to touch upon the complexity of Ty's character; his passion for the stark Australian desert, his talent with animals, his love of art, his intelligence and resourcefulness... It barely even grazes the vastness of the backdrop this book is set against, a landscape so harsh, yet lovely, that it was a deeply enigmatic character in its own right. But, all this isn't something I can just write about or explain or even begin to understand; it's something you just have to experience on your own.

Without a doubt, I am in love with this book. It is thoughtful, compelling, and mind-numbingly provocative. It is written in a beautiful and creeping manner, molding its way around your heart all while growing thorns. Best of all, however, it makes you think and question your own life and long for something inexplicable...and, really, isn't that the most we can ask of a book? For it to impart some of itself in us, for it to make us see an author's passion, and for it to make us attempt to define that which is undefinable?