Read vs. Watch #3 - My Abandonment by Peter Rock (Leave No Trace)
If you're looking for something a little different than your usual read, I highly recommend Peter Rock's My Abandonment.
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Both the fascinating read and excellent movie are based on the mysterious true story of a girl and her father, discovered living in a nature preserve that borders Portland, Oregon's downtown.
For four years they grew what food they could, only traveling into the city to collect his disability cheques and any additional supplies.
After being found, the young girl was found to have been healthy, cared for and educated - testing academically better than her peers. The two were relocated to a horse farm, where the father found work. And then - they just disappeared.
Why were they living there? How did they live? Where did they go?
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After hearing the story, author Peter Rock set out to explore a version of what occurred, filling in the blanks on who these people were, how they had survived and what ultimately happened to them.
The movie version Leave No Trace did something similar, but seemed to stay closer to the known events.
**If you've read White Oleander - you'll most likely enjoy this one. Another book about survival and being forced to grow up, Janet Finch puts us in teenage Astrid's head as she deals with some pretty heavy situations once her mother ends up in prison and Astrid in the foster care system.
My Takeaways
The Book (My Abandonment)
The book is narrated by 13-year-old Caroline, and as I usually find in books vs. movies - you get WAY more context from the former. You're literally in her head, seeing through her eyes. Her perspective.
She lives in the woods with Father, keeping only each other's company as much as possible. Caroline studies, reads books at a much higher reading level than her peers and Father teaches her survival skills beyond starting a fire and leaving no footprints.
We come to understand that her mother is a swirling thought in her head, and though she (Also named Caroline) has died, Father speaks of her fondly, though fills in few blanks for Caroline the younger.
The book is entirely Caroline's story - and I think that's what made it feel so personal. You know what she's feeling and thinking, so you're aware you're in a young girl's head, but you're also aware that she may not be mature enough to fully understand what's happening, even though she feels safe and loved by Father.
Unlike the movie, throughout the book I always had the sense that Father HAD to hide - he was trying to disappear. The fear of being caught was more than just having to deal with the inevitable red tape and suspicious questions that come for people who don't fit in.
I got the sense that he did something pretty bad - and needed to stay out of sight.
The Movie (Leave No Trace)
Will is an American war hero, a lone wolf - scarred by what he's seen, and struggling with PTSD. Here we have a man with a clearly tortured past, and in many ways, he's choosing to remove himself from society, preferring the quiet predictability of the woods, nature, the wilderness with his treasured daughter, Tom.
The movie, while telling a similar story about a father and daughter being essentially dragged back to society despite wanting to remain independent, felt like a straightforward attempt at capturing a feeling of unrest and mistrust in the world and the government.
Here is a man who was let down in many ways - so he goes back to a world and life he can trust - attempting to shield his daughter from the same disappointment.
Tom is a young girl who has had no choice BUT to live in the wild with her beloved dad - but she's clearly curious about the world beyond and searches for community.
Questions with No Answers
The book read a bit like a mystery - there was a sinister tone throughout and some things just seemed odd and didn't add up. For example, in the book, she calls him Father. In the movie, Dad. Maybe not a huge distinction to many, but to me, there's a distance and hierarchy related to calling your parent 'Father,' as opposed to the more casual, 'Dad.' Is this important to the story?
Themes
The book goes into much greater detail about how there are societies existing beyond our cities, streets and suburbs - communities where people come together for privacy, for different or less rules, for shelter on their own terms. Kids who ran away from home. Men who live deep in the woods, drifting in and out of different parts of the vast Oregon forest to survive. People with nowhere else to go.
My Abandonment/Leave No Trace
Overall, I liked both the book AND the movie, however, while they were both about a similar theme with similar characters, they felt like two completely different stories.
The movie seems more about a young girl living with a father suffering from PTSD and trying to find herself. I didn't feel the same connection as I did when reading.
The book though - parts of the book still haunt me. This is about a survivor - adopted, kidnapped, then ultimately, set free to be...whoever she's become.