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I defy you not to shed a tear at this beautiful story... a touching and life-affirming read. * Prima * Mike Gayle just gets better and better and HALF A WORLD AWAY might be the loveliest yet. (Jenny Colgan, author of The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After) As the adoptive mother of four internationally children, all of whom were placed with me at about the same age Jaden was placed, I have very divided opinions about this book. Yes .. it shows a journey to love. I would (perhaps) have preferred the story to be in Jaden's voice. (Who is clearly very bright and who speaks excellent English after 4 years in America.) But the picture of international adoption didn't work for me. His parents, for example, are still dealing with a child showing habits (e.g. food hoarding) which usually disappear after 4-6 months after placement, and desires to set fires (yes, he's in counseling for this.) He lies. OK. But ... they leave a 12-year-old with these issues (among others) alone in a new country? And even at the "orphanage" - they let him play with the toddlers without supervision? (Although they do ask him to join them in "bonding with the baby." Ask?) I too” was exactly the kind of thing Steve said. “Perhaps” for “maybe,” “distressed” for “upset,” and so on. He was a word nerd. Eleven-year-old Jaden is adopted, and he knows he’s an “epic fail.” That’s why his family is traveling to Kazakhstan to adopt a new baby—to replace him, he’s sure. And he gets it. He is incapable of stopping his stealing, hoarding, lighting fires, aggressive running, and obsession with electricity. He knows his parents love him, but he feels...nothing.
Accomplished, sensitive and powerful novel...A truly beautiful story about the power of love and family, this is Mike Gayle's best book to date * Daily Express *
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How have I not read a Mike Gayle book before? I want to give this book all of the starts in the universe. I cried my eyes out at the end. It is touching, heart-wrenching and thought-provoking.' Netgalley Jaden is a 12 year old and was adopted at the age of 8. He is a very difficult child and from the looks of it, and not a very happy one either. He steals and has a tendency to hoard things. He has also went through a phase where he set things on fire. None of this, however, portrays him as unlikeable because Jaden is very much likeable. His heartbreak really gets to you. He refuses to love his parents because of this deep-seated fear (that he himself probably doesn’t realize) that they’ll leave him just like his birth mother did. You can see his constant internal struggle to accept his adoptive parents and let go of his fear and his anger towards them.
Flying half way round the world, he is furious, scared and hurting. The process in Kazakhstan is not going smoothly and the parents are not given the baby promised to them. Instead, they are shown children who are biologically deformed, and/or gravely challenged. Kerry Hayes is a single mum, living on a tough south London estate. She provides for her son by cleaning houses she could never hope to afford. Taken into care as a child, Kerry cannot ever forget her past. Jaden sat on the floor, holding on to a half loaf of unsliced bread. He switched his lamp on and off, the bedroom lighting up and darkening over and over. Electricity had always relaxed him. For sure it was the most amazing thing about America. He bit off the biggest chunk of bread that could fit in his mouth. It was sourdough, which he liked because it was so chewy.
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Twelve-year old Jaden hails from Romania. Adopted at eight, his adopted mother loved him immediately. Throughout the four years of being with his mother and father, he is angry at his biological mother who left him, and he strikes out at any and all who try to understand him. He got up and followed her through the house. It was a nice enough house, but not his house. He didn’t have a house. Never had—he’d only thought he had one. His mother, the only person he figured he’d ever loved, had given him up. He refused to feel love again, ever. Every day all he wanted to do was cry. He hated school, sitting there like a soldier in the army. He hated home, with Penni always trying to get through to him. He wished she would ignore him more. Half a Word away is a heartbreaking and beautiful story. An uplifting tale that is relatable and well written. The other is adopted aged 2.5 and raised by a loving, wealthy white middle class family and eventually becomes a successful criminal barrister. Noah lives with his wife and daughter in Primrose Hill. But when they get to Kazakhstan, it turns out the infant they’ve travelled for has already been adopted, and literally within minutes are faced with having to choose from six other babies. While his parents agonize, Jaden is more interested in the toddlers. One, a little guy named Dimash, spies Jaden and barrels over to him every time he sees him. Jaden finds himself increasingly intrigued by and worried about Dimash. Already three years old and barely able to speak, Dimash will soon age out of the orphanage, and then his life will be as hopeless as Jaden feels now. For the first time in his life, Jaden actually feels something that isn’t pure blinding fury, and there’s no way to control it, or its power.
There are a few secondary characters as well and the most noteable one is Sam. He is in his 60s, but he and Jaden hit it off. They become friends and Sam teaches Jaden, in his own way, to let go of his anger.No wonder the adoption agency/placement center/"Babies' Home" is not sure about placing a child with them. The legalities of the placement are in some ways realistic .. spending time in the country of origin, etc -- but the baby they adopt (and the older child they choose to adopt, too) are clearly special needs children, when at least the father in the story has not dealt well with being Jaden's father. Kerry and Noah couldn't have had any more different upbringings if they tried, but yet there are a few similarities in their lives.
What an involving, captivating, heart-rending story. Some books fade from the memory but I know I'm never going to forget these characters - they feel like my own family. (Jill Mansell) Heartbreaking and wonderful, a beautiful book about the power of love to surmount almost anything. -- Julie Cohen These are people who matter, situations one can believe. Most readers will find themselves caring very much. A life-affirming read.‘ VineKerry Hayes knows exactly who she is: a single mum, a cleaner and Mariah Carey's biggest fan. Noah Martineau thinks he knows who he is: a successful barrister, with a wife, daughter and big house in Primrose Hill. Strangers with nothing in common. Strangers living worlds apart. But it wasn't always this way...and Noah and Kerry are about to discover just who they really are....." I kind of wish I hadn’t let Catherine talk me into this dinner date,” Penni was saying. “We’ve got so much to do before we leave.” Everyone is talking about this quite tearful read Half A World Away by Mike Gayle, anyone with the love of good books can see why everyone is talking this story.
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