Riveting story!

• Book: As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back
• Location: South East Asia
• Author: Alle C Hall

Review Author: Catshields

When I began reading Alle C. Hall’s As Far As You Can Go Before You Have To Come Back, I was immediately drawn into this intricate, dramatic story. The author utilizes her vivid imagination to build her story of childhood sexual abuse as she gives us a peek into the inner sanctum of the
dark world of childhood sexual abuse. In the first few pages, we meet Carlie, the main character. There are elements of betrayal and the well-kept family secret as we learn the
predators who commit the abuse are Carlie’s own father and his friends. Carlie herself
illustrates how she handles the situation. She states: “When you sensed danger, you left for the ceiling. That’s when you found yourself looking down on yourself, thinking, look what’s happening to me. When it wasn’t so scary, you moved only to the side. The first time it happened in my room, I was reading in bed when there was a noise from the hall then the sound of him paused in my doorway.”
The author’s power of description kept me riveted to the pages. For years, Carlie has coped with the abuse. We watch her struggle to escape and the method she uses to plan a strategic exit. In the first half of the novel, Carlie becomes a savvy teenager who maps out her strategy to steal money to run away from home to the furthest place she can imagine, Southeast Asia.
Readers follow Carlie as she bravely faces how to survive life on the run as she deals with alcohol, drug abuse, and hook-ups. Yet just as we begin to despair, hope appears. We meet Cho and Ava, two of my favorite characters in the novel. In the second half of the book, we journey along with Carlie as her new friends help her begin the healing process from her childhood trauma. The author threads a myriad of layers of connection, using Cho and Ava to guide us to the end of the story. The pacing of this novel was believable, paced with emotional, heart- wrenching scenes. Hall delivers a satisfying ending.

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