We forgive murderers, not pedophiles.Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now. Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren’t any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls … confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He’s sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.
His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won’t allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son?
Saving Noah challenges everything you think you know about teenage sexual offenders. It will keep you up at night long after you’ve read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.
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This book is the real story of real parents that face tragic mental health issues with their child. The stigma, the lack of help to manage the difficulty of raising children that can become out of control in public. The isolation these parents feel when it is easier to stay home rather than chance a public scene. Sometimes even extended family stay away or not invite them to Family affairs. There is so much public education needed to inform society of the autism spectrum.
I want to start by saying some may think of this as a taboo subject and it’s not an easy read. Even though this is a fairly short book it took me longer to read because I had to take emotional breaks. As I’m sitting here writing this review all I keep thinking is what would I do for my kids?
Very realistic and sad. Until just recently rapists have been applauded and pedophiles very much maligned, except in the Catholic church. I read “I Have the Right To” immediately after reading Saving Noah, made compelling comparison.
Warning this is a very complex and sad book. I recommend it if you are interested in exploring the conflicts and deep angst of a family dealing with a teenager pedophile. Their pain and reported limited support. Their hopelessness and also the mother ‘s decisión at the end of the book is very controversial. You have to read it since I don’t want to spoil the conclusion of the drama. It is different because it focused on the pain of the perpetrator and discussed how the family is affected and gives information about the treatment available and explored prognosis. Very very emotional reading. Be prepared but I found it worthy to step into their world. I have never read anything like that. I support more treatment and research and hope for a better outcome than according to the author we have at the present.
This was such an intense, wonderful, heartbreaking read about the unconditional love a mother has for her son. This is my first book by Lucinda Berry, so I didn’t know what to expect, but I certainly was not disappointed. She took an incredibly difficult subject and put a whole different spin on it. I read this book in one day, couldn’t put it down, the writing was so compelling. It certainly made me look at this subject in a totally different way. This is the type of book that you go over and over in your mind for a very long time. I for one will not soon forget this book.
Amazing book! Amazing author! Her book, based on fiction, is a shocking truth about real life situations and their consequences!
This book was so heartbreaking to me. I think we all feel compassion for victims but we rarely have compassion for the perpetrators or their family. This could be a very important book.
I had no idea what to expect from this book as I didn’t read the blurb. It’s a Lucinda Berry book so it has to be good, right? This is a deeply intense, kinda dark one.
This is the story of Noah, a smart kid, a good kid from the outside looking in. He did something that he felt guilty about and withdrew into himself until he couldn’t take it anymore and confessed to his mom. That started a sequence of events that seemed to take off like a freight train. He ended up in a juvenile psychiatric institution to get him the help he needed. There is also the fact that his family became so disjointed his mom moved out of the family home to an apartment where Noah could stay when he was released. His dad, Lucas, wanted nothing more to do with Noah after his confession. Lucas happened to harbor a deep-seated secret of his own. Katie, the seven-year-old sister in this story, just wanted her big brother home and her family together.
I have to say that this is the second book I’ve read that has led me to shed a few tears. This book explores what it is like to have a family torn apart by a son’s actions that he could not control. This book explores the deep-seated honest emotions of what “real” people would probably feel in the same situation. This book explores a mother’s unconditional love for her son, but on such a level that she did the one thing, the one thing he wanted, to help him through his emotional suffering.
Trigger warnings: Pedophilia, suicide.
Hard subject to read but amazingly well written
Okay, Lucinda Berry, consider yourself redeemed in this reader’s mind. The first book of yours I read, PERFECT CHILD, was an epic fail for me–bad ending and unbelievable characters marred that story. But SAVING NOAH? Amazing. Heartfelt. Brave. I don’t toss terms like that around lightly, but writing a book about a teenage pedophile and the mother who loves him had to be a hard choice to make as a writer. You had to know the subject matter alone would keep readers away. But, I pity those who did stay away because you wrote a remarkable story of love that was so powerful and caring that it had me in tears by the end. Everything about the book was, simply, right. I felt for and understood these characters so much that I felt a kind of love for them (not an easy task when one did such a horrible thing). I wasn’t sure I’d read more of your work after PERFECT CHILD, but after reading SAVING NOAH, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me next.
Whew! This book was sad, but could not put it down. Its a taboo subject, but what a read!
Unbelievably eye-opening and insightful. Tough subject matter but so well presented. The struggle, pain, and shame felt by all parties was heart-breaking but beautifully conveyed.
Full of surprises!
The ending was a surprise and not something I would have hoped for..However, I learned a lot from the book and I read it in 1 sitting.
Didn’t really like this book it wasn’t what I thought it would be
Heartbreaking
Holy Moley! This one was about a young man who was interested in little girls and how it affected his family. I was totally amazed that it was interesting to me at all but the end was totally unforseeable.
Uncomfortable subject matter yet thought provoking.
Very sad story, but held my interest to the end.
I enjoyed this book. Iit was a dark subject but treated with kindness. I felt that poor mothers pain right along with her. It was a very good story about a subject that I knew nothing about.