Amy MacKinnonCríticas

3.5 stars.½

I was intrigued by this book. It drew me in and kept me reading, despite the horrific abuse. But the ending! Such a disappointment, and very confusing. I had to read it twice to figure out what happened, or at least what I think happened. And I just don't buy it. She shoehorned a paranormal experience into a mundane book at the very end and it wasn't convincing. I have spent some time around ardent Baptists and they don't hold with talking with ghosts, and they don't pretend that the ghost is a real person, and they certainly don't report the murdered person's memories anonymously to the police. Give me a break. You had a good story going up until the end, why take off into the weird if it isn't useful to the story? Also, the killer was really, really obvious. It worked ok with the story for it to be that way, but really, really obvious.

** spoiler alert ** I want to start off saying I thought the plot was a knockout detective thriller. An undertaker is visited by a girl that is involved in a pedophilia ring and the detectives step in to help. I picked it up and was eager to read, however, the book fell flat in the pacing. It started off very slow and then was rushed to the ending. I didn't really care too much for Clara until the middle of the book after her past is revealed fully. After that, I understood more as to why she was reserved, but I felt like it was too much. Every time something happened she said she wanted to do the thing, but can't. This happens even when she is fighting for her life against Ryan. I really wanted to slap her and say JUST KILL HIM YOU HAVE BODY CUTTING TOOLS! Eventually, she did in a touching memory to all the people Ryan killed. We then flash to a dream sequence with everyone she loves and they make her decide between living or dying. Linus tells her she can die but she hasn't even lived yet. SPOILER** she chooses to live and it ends on an iconic line " and I chose to breathe." I was left wanting more but also thought the story ended beautifully. Maybe if there was a little companion book about what happened to her and Mike after I would be fully satisfied. overall if the pacing was different this would have been a perfect thriller story.

This was a really good book. It was thought provoking and touching.

Excellent story with a fragile, damaged main character named Clara that works as an undertaker and keeps very much to herself. She fights a growing physical attraction to police detective Mike Sullivan as they investigate a cold case of a murdered girl who may be linked with a little girl Clara encounters playing in the funeral home. Along the way the reader is offered glimpses of Clara's past that shaped her into the closed-off woman she has become. I really enjoyed this story and felt moved by Clara's pain and sense of isolation.

Amy McKinnon tells a great story. This was so well-written, so well-told. Yes, it lays heavy into the symbolism of flowers, but her characters are these beautiful, 3D-rendered people and you're plunked right in the midst of an engaging story.

If I could, I think I'd give this book a 3.5 stars. It was an odd, very atmospheric book with a very interesting protagonist which was almost ruined for me by the last 5 pages. There was also a very unbelivable romance. But I was more willing to forgive that.

As in Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, flowers carry their own meaning in TETHERED as Clara Marsh, undertaker, tucks an appropriate stem into the coffin of each body she prepares. A daisy for an innocent child; cosmos for a peaceful death; jasmine for an elegant woman. We understand that she is just managing life, putting one foot in front of the other. She lives alone; works alone in the funeral home basement. The only important people in her life are the owners of the funeral home, surrogate parents. Flashbacks describe Clara’s harsh and abusive upbringing at the hands of a neurotically Catholic grandmother.

A tip about the murderer of an unidentified little girl, simply called Precious Doe, brings Detective Mike Sullivan’s unwelcome questioning about the body Clara prepared for burial. Sullivan’s wife has recently died in a car crash; he has returned to work too soon and this case seems particularly important to him. When a young girl shows up sporadically at the funeral home, Clara discovers a link to Precious Doe’s. Clara and Mike are too damaged to handle the investigation well but they persist.

TETHERED is a crime mystery that, sometimes awkwardly, sifts our ideas of religion, life after death, justice and forgiveness. I think Clara’s torturous thoughts often stalled the story’s momentum but scenes like the ones in her private garden carried an ineffableness proper to the theme.

A mature work for a debut author, TETHERED rises well above the chick lit shelf in its daring subject matter and style.

Highly recommended to readers of psychological fiction.

This is a difficult book for me to rate. I want to give the first half 4 stars and the conclusion 2 stars. The writing itself was wonderful and I read the book in one sitting. However, parts of the story were predictable and I wasn't too thrilled with the end. Even so, an overall positive reading experience.

Clara Marsh is an undertaker whose past has caused her to be more comfortable in the company of the dead than with the living. She doesn't seem to have much capacity to enjoy life outside the mortuary or the garden, and combines these passions in a touching ritual -- she tucks an appropriate herb or flower in the casket of those whom she's prepared for burial. This ritual gives rise to what became, for me, an annoying and overused device (using parentheses to explain the meaning of the flora).

That aside, Clara finds herself drawn to a little girl, Trecie, who wanders the halls of the funeral home, and it is this tenuous relationship that propels Clara into circumstances that require her to reach out her skittish hand to others. Once the author, Amy McKinnon, eased up on the parenthetical interruptions I found myself quite caught up in the unfolding of Clara's personal history and the deepening mystery surrounding Trecie.

I nearly put this one on the "unfinished" list, but I'm glad I didn't. The ending was an emotional roller-coaster full of hope and affirmation, and left me emotionally well-satisfied.

Although "Tethered" lends itself to a sequel, I hope Amy McKinnon leaves it as is.

This was a well-written book. My only complaint is I wanted to know more about the characters. MacKinnon would lead you to the water but wouldn't let you drink. It frustrated me. I really enjoyed the definitions to the flowers. It would be nice to have a reference with all listed out somewhere in the book. Not a hard "who did it" book to figure out, but definitely one that kept me turning pages.

Outstanding book. I don't like first person and rarely, if ever, read books written in that point of view. Not only did I read it, I enjoyed it and read it in one sitting. Worse it's written in present tense. I NEVER read those. MacKinnon did it so well I didn't realize it for quite a while and by then I was hooked. Great story, talented author. I'd definitely read her work again.

This book literally kept me "tethered" to my car. I would wait in the car at the end of the day to heat to end of the chapter. I gues this is the hazard of "reading" audiobooks.

You will find yourself falling for the lonely and damaged funeral home worker. She has a secret passion for flowers and she understands their language. Her boss and his wife have collected her and think of her as their own daughter.

Swirling around the funeral parlor is the death of the unclaimed "Precious" Doe, who was brutally beaten to death before being dumped in the city. What does the funeral home director know about her death?

You just never know who to trust in this book, and, as in real life, you are never quite sure (until the end) if your trust is justified. I found this book to be thrilling, sad and deep... at the same time.

A story that takes you inside a place you've never been and takes you quite deep into a woman's soul

A haunting and beautiful read.

On her first attempt, MacKinnon has delivered a Tour de Force. Her book poetically delves into some of the darker sides of human emotions examining abuse, aloneness, self-imposed isolation, and death. The novel unfolds in a melodious elegant language, encouraging the reader to linger over every word, every page. This is the kind of book one wants to read and take in slowly. The plot is strikingly unique and sturdy, and the characters are well developed, intriguing, and acutely thought provoking. The story revolves around a female undertaker who (due to her self-imposed isolation)exists among the living and the dead. The story furnishes an intricate and detailed account of a person who strives to maintain a state of self-isolation. One who is determined to block out the world, turning away from crisis, compassion, and love and hiding amongst the dead. While I found the book to be hauntingly beautiful it is not for everyone. The depth of the book makes it dark by nature. If wandering amidst a darker and deeper side of human nature or searching for the meaning behind or answer to thought provoking text isn't a regular read for you and doesn't sound appealing, then this is probably not a book you'll enjoy or get anything out of. This is in no way, shape, or form a surface read. On the other hand, for those who love or live to delve into the depths of human experience, you will not be disappointed.

The protagonist Clare Marsh is a mortician who lives a rather secluded life. We learn that Clare’s childhood was not at all happy. She lived a life of emotional and sexual abuse and ran away at a young age. She seems at peace among the dead and most uncomfortable among the living. Her boss Linus and his wife Alma believe themselves to be orphan parents since their young son passed away. They see Clare as an orphan child and love to treat her as their daughter but Clare never fully opens up to them, she does not know how to accept affection and always remains distant. She is constantly thinking about how she is suppose to react in any given situation. Claire is always on guard and she tries to keep her emotions in check. When a young girl named Trecie is found playing in the funeral home, and believed to be linked to an unsolved murder case. Clare sees herself in Trecie, her same desperation and decides she must do whatever she can to help her. Unlike the people in her life who blatantly refused to help her.
This story in unlike anything I’ve read before. Tethered took me by surprise and brought me on an emotional ride. It’s not the type of novel I usually read, I tend to stay away from mystery novels. I was captivated by this haunting story from the beginning. As a debut novelist, I hope Amy Mackinnon will write more books. Her writing is beautiful, and I just wanted to keep turning the pages.

An undertaker finds herself drawn into a struggle to save a young girl from a terrible fate.

This may be a crime novel, but it's Clara, the undertaker, who carries the show. MacKinnon is evidently far more interested in her characters than in the crime they're investigating. The crime hovers in the background, of course, but the main focus is on Clara's emotional development. She's led a difficult life, and it's left her tentative and unable to relate to those around her. She's reluctant to engage with anyone, and socializing is a real struggle. I thought MacKinnon did a nice job of showing us how Clara's past has affected her and how her present situation forces her to deal with all that.

The mystery may not be MacKinnon's main focus, but it's still nicely laid out. It's very much a guess-along sort of thing, and I always enjoy those. (I'll warn you, though, that this story is chock full of dark, disturbing stuff that may be triggering for some readers). MacKinnon planted enough clues that I figured it out well before Clara and the police, but that didn't detract from the book's overall effect.

So it's a good book, and I'd certainly recommend it to mystery fans and those who enjoy character-driven novels, but I'm not sure it's going to stay with me for long. The problem with mysteries is that they're sort of over once you've finished the book. (This isn't true of all stories. Not by a long shot). I don 't feel like I need to return to this one.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).

Clara Marsh, is an emotionally fragile woman who works as an undertaker in Brockton, MA. She does not believe in God. When asked what she does believe, she responds by saying "I believe it is important to breathe". She spends her solitary life among the dead, preparing their last baths and bidding them farewell with a bouquet from her own garden. Her carefully structured life shifts when she discovers a neglected, possibly abused young girl playing in the funeral parlor, desperate for a friend.

Clara's ordered life changes even more when a detective starts questioning her about a body she prepared three years earlier. The body was of an unidentified young girl found murdered in the woods nearby. Unclaimed by family, the community christened her Precious Doe. Is there a link between the young girl who seeks the funeral parlor as a sanctuary to the same people who killed Precious Doe?

Wonderfully written and very compelling. Read in one sitting.½

I found this book on Stasia's list and I'm glad I trusted her judgment.

This is a highly crafted, well-written, grip your emotions and never let them go kind of book. Found in the mystery section, it actually transcends just one category.

It is raw, gritty and gripping and the heroine is a flawed, fascinatingly in-depth woman. Mackinnon crafted an entire set of complex, unfluffy characters and once I began reading this book, I was compelled to finish it in one sitting.

Clara Marsh is an undertaker who is more comfortable with the dead than the living. Badly bruised and emotionally, physically battered from a childhood none should endure, she looks at the world through eyes that have seen too much and a heart that craves to feel very little.

Her boss and his wife provide a haven of stability, and yet as the book progresses, that relationship also becomes tested and tempest tossed.

Clara's emotions are raw when three years prior, she prepared a burial for a beautiful little girl who was horrifically, brutally murdered and, lacking identity was named Precious Doe. When A small waif (Trecie) is found playing in the funeral home Clara sees the warning signs of a child who is badly abused.

From this point forward, the book takes a twisting, turning dark road as Trecie is somehow connected to Precious Doe. As Clara attempts to help Trecie, memories of her childhood are woven in the tale of pain, betrayal and neglect.

A local policeman Mike, who also has his share of tragedy, is like a bee buzzing, pestering Clara to help uncover the identify and killer of Precious Doe and to sew together the threads and pieces of Trecie and Precious Doe in an attempt to prevent a similar fate.

There is a portrayal of the seedy, underbelly of child pornography, and there are of a cast of town folk characters who are not all they appear to be. This book elicits suspicion and a whirlwind of emotions as it increasingly becomes difficult to discern who to trust.

The ending is unpredictable. While the story line is gripping and heart wrenching, the author did not portray the violence simply for the sake of gore.

Highly recommended for the excellent plot, the crisp writing and the portrayal of a redemptive soul, who despite terrible pain and darkness longs to be free of burden and bask in a ray of some sunshine.

A lyrical and thrilling read. Very different. I can't wait to see what she does next.

As an undertaker, Clara spends most of her days in the basement of a funeral home, carefully preparing dead bodies for their final viewing. In every casket she carefully hides a bouquet of her choice, lovingly selected to emulate their qualities and personality, if she knows them. One day she sees a little girl, Trecie, alone in the funeral home, who will neither leave or leave Clara alone. When Mike Sullivan, a policeman who is determined to get to the bottom of a three-year-old murder of another abused little girl, begins asking Clara questions, they realize that the cases may be related. Clara must choose between isolating herself and saving the life of a little girl who has found her way into her heart.

I surprised myself by liking this book so much. I have been making an effort recently to read and review the ARCs that didn’t catch me on my first try and eliminate any possible backlog. I’d categorized this one as a murder mystery, not my favorite, and the description of preparing a dead body for a funeral on the first few pages didn’t do much to peak my interest. So it sat unread and I felt guilty. Well, now I don’t feel guilty, and I’m happy because I read a fantastic book.

The one thing that pulled me in this book and wouldn’t let go was the character of Clara. Clara had a hard, hard childhood, bits and pieces of which are given to us throughout the narrative. As a result, she’s developed certain coping mechanisms, and one of them is hiding herself from the world, associating with mainly dead people, the two owners of the funeral home, and her garden. When Mike comes poking around, asking questions about the little girl who she essentially repaired more than she has done for any other human being, Clara’s defensive walls start to crack a little, and they continue to do so over the course of the novel. It was this slow unveiling which made the book for me. The other characters are similarly interesting and multi-dimensional; it’s hard to guess at the “bad guy” until clues start coming in thick and fast, because he seems good enough most of the time.

The only thing that bothered me were the many descriptions of dead people, particularly the one at the beginning where Clara describes what she does to them. I can’t say I really needed to know that. I understand to a basic extent what goes into preparing a body for an open casket but I didn’t really need to know all about it. Clara and various police officers and helpers also routinely go to the houses of dead people to pick the bodies up. All of these pickups do provide us with plot development, but corpses make me uncomfortable. It was worth it to get past that, but it is worth noting if this squicks you out.

Overall, I found this to be a great book with a fantastic main character. I think it would appeal to both mystery lovers and non-mystery lovers like me, because there is enough character development and suspicion to go around! I’m sorry I didn’t get to this book sooner; it was that great.

http://chikune.com/blog/?p=1090½

Op gezette tijden bevind ik mij op het station. En zoals dat gaat op stations, ik sta er vaak te wachten op de trein. Om de tijd te doden lees ik alles wat los en vast zit en wat ik zo onderweg tegenkom. Nou hangen er op het station vaak van die hele grote affiches en soms gaan die over boeken. Enige tijd terug riepen deze affiches mij aan alle kanten toe: Geschonden Amy MacKinnon. Tsja, is het dan de moeite waard om zo'n boek te lezen? Of trap ik in een slimme marketing truc?

Oké, ik ben het gaan lezen. En: het is meer dan de moeite waard! Dit is een prachtig boek.

Dit is zo'n boek dat me van meet af aan bij de strot greep. Het is het verhaal van Clara Marsh. Zeer knap geschreven, in de ik-vorm, waarbij we telkens een beetje meer te weten komen over Clara. Clara is begrafenisondernemer en wordt nog steeds achtervolgd door het Lieve Kind, dat ze enkele jaren daarvoor begraven heeft, dat nooit een naam heeft gekregen, omdat het door niemand werd vermist en dat op een gruwelijke manier was toegetakeld.

Een boek dat uit móest en vervolgens nog dagen door mijn hoofd is blijven spelen. En nu ik dit aan het schrijven ben voel ik weer de beklemming en toch ook wel droefheid als ik denk aan al die kinderen in onze wereld die geen kans krijgen om echt kind te zijn.
En slaat de titel van dit boek op deze kinderen of op Clara of toch op allebei?

Despite the sadness of the story, it really had me turning the pages until the end. I think this would make a good suspense motion picture. I never would have guessed how the story ended.

When I first picked up Tethered, I wasn't sure what to expect. A mystery, yes, but what kind of mystery?

I got my answer pretty quickly. I would venture to say that the main storyline of Tethered isn't actually the mystery of Trecie and Precious Doe, but Clara's self-exploration. The search for a murderer is definitely the driving force in the story and moves the plot along, but the actual focus of the book is actually Clara coming to terms with what is happening around her, as well as what has occurred in her life. It is definitely a character driven tale.

I also was fascinated by the details of an undertaker's work. I feel like that's one of those jobs that just gets done - we don't put much time and effort into thinking about the people that actually do the job, and what they have to do. It is a bit graphic when the author describes embalming the body, but I normally get squeamish about that sort of thing, and it didn't really bother me. Apparently, MacKinnon's uncle was an undertaker, which has fascinated her since she was a child.

The mystery portion of Tethered takes a bit of a backseat, as I mentioned before. As a result, it doesn't seem to be as fleshed out or captivating as it could be. However, MacKinnon's writing makes up for that; it is fluid and smooth, and really draws the reader in.

I really enjoyed this debut novel and look forward to what MacKinnon will be writing in the future. I recommend this book to mystery lovers, and those who love character explorations and character driven novels.

From S. Krishna's Books