Reviews for A child out of Alcatraz

The average rating for A child out of Alcatraz based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-28 00:00:00 Rich Boi Vivian once had dreams about being a scientist but she left college before she graduated to get married to Arthur Thorton. Fast forward to 1945 and they are living on Alcatraz Island where Art is working as a correctional officer at the prison and Vivian is a stay-at-home mom to their three children. Life on the island is rather normal for the officer's families who live there; they have parties on the dock, dances at the Social Hall, clubs to join, they have their own post office, and a little island store…just a regular neighborhood. But Vivian is unhappy and she can't help but to wonder is this all there is to life? She would love more than anything to find a job in the city and work outside the home but unfortunately, her husband doesn't support this decision and his view mirrors that of society, a woman's role is to be a wife and mother and she shouldn't want more than that for herself so Vivian feels powerless to seek out something that would make her life more fulfilling. As a result, life on the island becomes unbearable for Vivian and this has devastating consequences to her marriage. The format of this book is interesting; the author alternates each chapter between telling the story about the Thorton family and providing history about Alcatraz Prison so in essence, you are reading two stories parallel to one another. There were times that I enjoyed reading the facts and background about Alcatraz Prison because I found it interesting but then there were other times that I just wanted to skim thru this section and get back to the story because I was anxious to find out what was happening with the family from where the story left off the last time. All in all, I thought it was a pretty good book for a first time novelist. I give it 4 stars.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-10-16 00:00:00 Steven Burgess This was certainly not the book I expected but in someways it was better. Thinking it would be more about the prison I found instead a heartfelt story about a family who lived on the island and how the isolation affected everyone. A young girl watches her mother slowly lose sight of who she is. This is a story that will stay with you for a long time. I won this from LibraryThing Members Giveaway and I recommend this book.