M. O. Walsh

A man reflects on the summer of his 14th year, where in Baton Rouge he fell in love with a golden-haired girl across the street before an unspeakable crime shattered illusions in his seemingly idyllic neighborhood. A first novel.

My Sunshine Away

Briar's Reviews

My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh is a haunting yet beautiful tale about a tragic childhood.

This book has blown me away with how thought provoking it is! M.O. Walsh's beautiful writing style tells the tale of fifteen year old Lindy (in our narrator's point of view) and the horrors that occur in their neighborhood. Add in the setting of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the late 80s and you've got yourself the perfect coming of age story addressing some really tough issues that we are still seeing today.

This is another book that I wish would have been around in my high school years. I think this would have been perfect reading material that addresses the growth and change of a child to an adult, and the big issues in society that are still happening. M.O. Walsh made the story light hearted and fun (at times) in a setting that could have been extremely brutal.

As the book moves forward, the effects on the town and Lindy slowly unravel and the mystery of it all falls into place. The ghosts of everyone's past comes to a nice close at the end of the book, so don't worry about cliffhangers! The last few pages of the book are the perfect summary, better than anything I've ever seen before. It's a real shame I don't see this book (or eventually more) by M.O. Walsh on bookshelves at my local bookstore. This book is top tier writing! 

My Sunshine Away had effects on me similar to 1984, To Kill a MockingBird and Shakespeare's best works. The book tells a story and a narrative, but has grande themes that can be picked apart. On top of that, the book feels nostalgic of what most adults had in their childhood (I can relate to talking on the phone when your parents answer it and hold it for you). The surprise of a safe neighborhood not really being all that safe. Also seeing some of the non-fictitious aspects of our world (like the Challenger and Jeffrey Dahmer) really made this book feel real. 

The characters also felt like people I would have known in my childhood - nerdy kids, the "weirdos", that one girl everyone loves - they all were relatable. Seeing them change and how they ended up in adulthood was also a nice touch that helped close the story. 

When I read this book, I thought it was a very soft adult novel - but apparently it's a Young Adult novel! It's a really nice read that Young Adults could handle. It has some tough themes, but nothing graphic. I'm actually even happier that this book should be on a Young Adult shelf, so those readers can get the impact of this story in their environment.

Overall, this book is an emotional, yet melancholic ride that will pull at your heartstrings and play with your emotions. It's so well developed, it's hard to believe that this is a debut novel! It feels like an expert in his craft wrote it! I highly recommend this book, and it's a definite must read! I'm sad I didn't pick this book up years ago! What a truly fantastic novel!

PS - What a stunning cover! This cover calls out to me, even though it's so simple yet so elegant! What a gem!

Five out of five stars!

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Ivy X

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Also, I have to make note that mine is the uncorrected proof for limited distribution version so changes might be made that I'm not aware of. The book is coming out on February 10, 2015. 

I loved this book. But I'm going to give it 4 stars because it was kind of confusing for me in the beginning because I wasn't sure of the writing style and I got annoyed with the whole "we'll get to it later." And I occasionally got confused as to what time we were talking about because there were a lot of flashbacks that went from childhood to adulthood and adulthood to childhood. But I started to get used to the writing style as I went on and I really enjoyed this book. There are a lot of reasons why. 
 First of all, the whole story felt very new and also reminded me of The Lovely Bones and Looking for Alaska. It was a very nice mix. It also had me doubt a lot of the characters as to who might be behind Lindy's rape. Lindy's character was as fascinating to me as it was to the narrator. The people in his life were extremely well-written and you could see just human every one was. I don't think this book ever said what the narrator's name was but that was part of why I liked it so much. 
 This book was really realistic in many aspects and I could see the reflection of the narrator in some of my friends (a few particular boys). Admittedly, I didn't understand the narrator's rather creepy obsession with Lindy but I saw it in a lot of my male friends when they had a crush and I could see just how true his form of liking her was. I really liked how the author introduced these four suspects that could have raped Lindy. I thought they were all suspicious as hell. I wasn't even sure if my narrator was reliable because that kid was obsessed with a girl that he didn't even talk to for most of his life. He had such a stalker/obsessive vibe to him that I wasn't sure at first. I mean everyone around him viewed him in a weird way. His mom was telling him that this wasn't love but obsession. Lindy even called him out a few times on how he always watches her. To me, that was kind of suspicious considering our narrator is also one of the four suspects. However, over time, I kind of saw that he probably was reliable in a way because he wanted to protect Lindy as much as he desired her. 
 I liked the idea that Lindy may have been more affected by the group therapy because it gave her more ideas to play around with. I liked how she tried to take control of her life again after her rape but kind of lost it at some point and then got it back again. I liked how Lindy wasn't perfect and I liked how the narrator noticed the change in her. It was very Looking For Alaska in the way that the narrator viewed Lindy. He wanted her sexually but also wanted to protect her. He loved her despite all her flaws and her changes. It was evident that he knew of her flaws when he said that he liked it even when she was gossiping about her "best friend" to him and told him all her secrets. 
 At the end, I was actually scared of Mr. Landry and then I got scared of his adopted son. However, I was actually surprised as to who the actual rapist was at the end. I think it was part of the beauty that both the narrator and Lindy grew up and matured. I liked how they both found their own happiness as adults. This book was really beautiful, raw, and realistic. I marked so many of the pages in the book that I loved. This was actually an amazing read. 

PS
 Even though Uncle Barry wasn't a big character in this book, I feel like he influenced the narrator and how this story would flow greatly. It showed how our life affects who we are as adults and that when we become adults, we see the ghosts in people that we were shielded from us as children.

Mary Rose Luksha

I'd like to rate this book 3 1/2 stars, but I rounded up because I loved the prose. 

The book was extremely well-written, the narrator had a terrific voice - measured, thoughtful, setting a good pace. The story itself was intriguing as well. 

The only thing I was disappointed in is that I was able to guess the ending. So I was torn between 3 and 4 stars but rounded up because I think the author had an interesting voice and I was impressed that this was his first novel. The plot and narration were polished and well-executed. It's a good little book!

Amy Maddess

** spoiler alert **
           I didn’t like this book for a long time and then in the last hour it got really intense. This intensity enabled me to ponder on the various purposes of this novel, which allowed me to realize that the overly introspective young male narrator that most readers do not like was actually written in this way quite consciously. He was portrayed as introspective to the point of obsessed so that we were able to see through his eyes all of the things that a young boy thinks about when the object of his love has been hurt in such a tragic way. A lot of people don’t like this book because the character seems so focused on himself, and not on the victim he is obsessed with, but the character acknowledges this as a shortcoming of his own personality, and explores the various reasons why he feels guilty and haunted by what happened that night. Like I mentioned earlier, there is a scene in the last hour that made me teary eyed in which Lindy confronts the ridiculousness of this boy’s obsession with what happened to her, and he is forced to face that he truly doesn’t know her at all.