Book: The Weight of Silence

The Weight of Silence, written by Heather Gudenkauf, is a story about a small girl named Callie, who lives in Iowa. Callie is what they call a selective mute, meaning, she can talk, but she chooses not to. The book starts off with Callie waking up in the middle of the night needing to go to the bathroom, but she doesn't want to because her father, Griff, is downstairs where the only bathroom is. Callie doesn't want to go by her father because she knows he is only going to try to make her talk. Griff is an alcoholic and I think it was his fault that Callie doesn't talk anymore. When Callie was younger, her mother, Antonia, was pregnant and Griff got mad at her and pushed her down the stairs. Callie started screaming and crying and Griff yelled at her to stop and she did. And she never spoke again.

Callie finally decides to go downstairs very quietly and try to sneak into the bathroom. Of course, her father catches her and starts talking to her kindly at first and then gets angry at her refusal to speak. Griff takes her outside, dragging Callie by the arm and heads for the forest. Callie knows the forest well because that's where she chooses to spend most of her time with her older brother, Ben. While walking to the forest, Callie's friend Petra sees them walking and runs outside to try and catch up. Skipping forward a little bit, Callie and Griff get lost in the forest and Callie takes this chance to try and run away from Griff. She doesn't get too far the first time, but tries again and manages to lose her father for a while.

Petra is still trying to follow them, when she gets lost in the forrest by herself. The next morning, Antonia realizes that Callie is gone and calls everyone asking if they had seen her. Griff was supposed to be on a fishing trip but they thought that he was still there and not with Callie. The search is on to find the two missing girls. Everyone gets involved and search parties are sent out. Callie hears people calling her name in the forrest but doesn't approach them because she knows they will try to take her to her father. Sheriff Louis gets involved and I really liked his character because he was really nice and did all he could to find the girls. Louis and Antonia had a past together. They were high school sweethearts and Griff was convinced that Callie was Louis' daughter and not his. So, therefore, Griff has a grudge against Louis.

Skipping forward again, Callie finds Petra who had passed out from dehydration and they are both found by Ben. Ben sends Callie out of the forrest to get help and she does. When she gets back to her mother, she says one word...Ben. The first word she had said in 5 years. Petra's father was standing with Antonia and immediately thought Ben had been the one to abduct his daughter so he runs into the forrest and finds Ben standing next to an almost dead Petra. Petra's father jumps on Ben with all of his force and nearly kills Ben. The whole thing is eventually sorted out and The girls are taken out of the forrest and to the hospital. Callie finds her voice again and can't stop talking.

I really liked the layout of this book, because you read the book from each characters point of view. So, you knew everything that was going on but the characters didn't. I would rate this book at a 10/10 and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Pelekania