Written as a letter to his ex-wife, Eric Kennedy tries to explain his behavior and motives for kidnapping their daughter (or just having an adventure with her that lasts a few days past his agreed upon time with her). I was quickly drawn into this well written story of a complex man and his evolving identity.

Fantastic characters and beautifully written.

3 and 1/2

This novel opens in a familiar way, "What follows is a record of where Meadow and I have been since our disappearance." For anyone who has read Lolita, the parallels (between this "confession," between these characters -- Humbert Humbert and Erik Schroder, between the two kidnappings) are obvious. However, Schroder is not a pedophile, but a desperate father who has abducted his own daughter. He is also a liar. His entire life a fiction. The novel, written in the epistolary form to his ex-wife, Laura, slowly unravels the elaborate construct of his life.

There was so much I loved about this novel. I think that Gaige has done an incredible job with the unreliable narrator. I found myself both captivated and disturbed by him. I longed to trust him, only to have that trust undermined. The writing is gorgeous, and the scenes vivid.

Shroder's "research" on pausology (or the power and nature of pauses and silence) was interesting, but I wonder if it might have resonated more near the end of the novel. (I kept waiting for his research to somehow come to fruition...but it didn't, for me anyway.)

As a native Vermonter, I would be remiss if I didn't point out a couple of glitches. 1. There are no billboards in Vermont. 2. The depiction of the "public academy" in St. Johnsbury (and the depiction of the bedraggled parents waiting to pick up their children) rang false. St. Johnsbury Academy is a private high school, with a huge population of dorm students, and I couldn't understand why parents of teens would a) be picking them up from school, this presumes the parents are not working b)so many pregnant mothers...really? Women with teenage kids? Anyway...probably only fellow Vermonters would take issue with this.

I also wonder (and hoping someone might chime in here) about the shift from the epistolary form of the novel to a second person near the end (where Schroder appears to be speaking to himself)...and then the several pages of what seems to be an apology (I let you down.) Because of the earlier shift in who "you" is, I didn't know whether to read this as directed toward Laura or toward himself...or perhaps, this is intentional. Regardless, it was the only moment (other than the two moments mentioned above) where I felt pulled away from the fictional dream.

I definitely recommend this book. I really, really enjoyed it.

Interesting story. I did enjoy the way the story was told. Not exactly straight forward, kinda scattered. But I felt like that's the way the author wanted the reader to feel in order to put themselves in the main characters shoes.

I loved the premise of this book. Erik writing a letter to his ex-wife explaining why he wanted to his daughter on a trip, even though it was against the custody agreement.

I think his wife unfairly barred him from seeing his daughter. He was not unfit.

I just find it sad that at the end of the book (SPOILER WARNING), that Erik is now all alone. No father, no wife, no child.

One can assume and hope that Meadow will want to visit her father and be allowed to. I am so sad that this man is now alone, even if in prison.

I really hate endings that leave unanswered questions, but then I guess life can be like that.

I'll just form one in my mind. :)

Oh, my. Anyone who's experienced the pain of being separated from your children due to divorce will appreciate Amity Gaige's Schroder: A Novel. [bc:Schroder: A Novel|15018713|Schroder A Novel|Amity Gaige|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1340468250s/15018713.jpg|20673281]

Erik Schroder created a new identity for himself - Eric Kennedy - as a teenager. As Kennedy, he begins to enjoy the promise of an American life: a beautiful wife, an unbelievably smart daughter, and a decent job as a realtor.

Then the recession hits, and his income takes a nosedive, as does his marriage. Kennedy's wife asks for a divorce, forcing him to live as a non-custodial father. Losing his daughter is too much for him to bear, and he makes a fateful decision, the story of which is told in Schroder.

I picked this book up (well, downloaded it) thinking it'd be a bucket of popcorn. Well, it offers those pleasures and satisfactions, and much more. Well-written, provocative, many-layered. I loved the narrative device, the unknowns in Schroder's past, and the destabilizing, distorting power of secrets and lies that shape this story. This is a powerful, substantial novel. Comparisons to Gone Girl are inevitable; I think Schroder's the stronger book.

Usually like the unreliable narrator, but found this one boring.

Eric Schroder, an East German immigrant arrives in the USA and does what can only be described as the quintessential American version of reinventing himself. How truly American it is to be able to start afresh, with no baggage, caste or expectations other than what you set for yourself or create from your own imagination? And what better role model than your own American hero - John F. Kennedy, a man who came to Berlin and declared himself one of you? Eric Schroeder creates a new identity, “Eric Kennedy” - loosely fashioned on a Kennedyish mystique and embraces an alternate childhood recollection of events that slowly pull him in to a point of no return. Of course, his life is a series of lies that leave no room for a shared intimacy or connection - which explains later events.

He grows up, marries and becomes a father - without revealing his true origins. Later, as his marriage falls apart, and he becomes embroiled in a bitter custody battle with his ex, he decides to escape with his daughter in a failed attempt at recreating the magic he shared with her as the devoted father of her childhood.

The book is written as a sort of apologia/letter to his ex, in which he explains himself, his background and the journey he undertook with his daughter, Meadow, that spanned a week and became a televised manhunt. There is a great deal of tenderness and genuine joy he describes when discussing his daughter.

But there is also an enormous amount of narcissism and self indulgent behavior that creates a genuine misgiving about what kind of father/man/ human being Eric really is. As best as I could justify it, I think he was part of the carnage and collateral damage that often occurs when parents get divorced and deal with the war zone that a custody battle entails.

As a divorce lawyer, I cringed in recognition with much of the advice Eric’s attorney offered him and quickly realized the path of destruction he was headed on. Much of it was self created. But I also placed a lot of blame on the character we don’t hear much from - the ex wife. Her presence in this book is a huge negative space but her actions also had profound effects on the plot development that occurred. Manipulating parenting time, restricting it, creating a situation where a father feels his only recourse is to engage in self-help? These are horrible daily realities that exist and it’s tragic because the ultimate victim becomes the child. I can’t excuse what Eric did, I suspect he justified it because he felt he had no other option. But it’s a sad state of affairs to watch something like this unfold and consider the complexity of betrayal his ex must have felt as she learned of his complicated web of lies. Did he deserve what happened to him? Do we ultimately know what will happen to his relationship with his daughter? I won’t comment on that. But the story itself was compelling and thoughtful and worthy of a read.