Review: Josie and Jack A Novel by Kelly Braffet

Josie and Jack: A Novel

by Kelly Braffet (Goodreads Author)

published February 4th 2005 by Mariner Books

details Paperback, 256 pages

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description

Beautiful, brilliant, and inseparable, Josie and Jack Raeburn live a secluded, anarchic existence in their decaying western Pennsylvania home. The only adult in their lives is their rage-prone father, a physicist, whose erratic behavior finally drives them away. Without a moral compass to guide them, Jack leads Josie into a menacing world of wealth, eroticism, and betrayal. His sociopathic tendencies emerge, and soon Josie must decide which is stronger: the love and devotion she feels for her brother or her will to survive.

Review:

Hooked me from the start.....

Weird.Dark.mind tripping BOOK!!

After I began reading this book, I was addicted. I kept thinking about Josie and Jack and about how the hell this story would end. Josie and Jack are sister and brother, primarily isolated from the rest of the world by their mostly absent professor father. Separated when very young, their mother took Jack and left Josie with her father. However, when Jack was eight years old, their mother died, and Jack went to live with his father and sister.

Both Jack and Josie are deeply troubled people, thanks to their crazy father, who basically abandons them all week to return home on the weekends to abuse, berate, and torment them. Eventually, Jack and his father have a falling out and Jack leaves, abandoning Josie. Jack returns six months later to take her with him.

They survive through living off of the women Jack happens to ensnare with his charm. But it is an un-secure and insecure way to live.

The overwhelming feeling that I got throughout reading this novel was one of despair. These two are desperate to remain next to each other in a strange, erotic, co-dependent, and antisocial way. They are the only people who can understand each other, and they desperately cling to each other while hurting each other in the process.

The power of the story comes from rooting for them while knowing you shouldn't; wanting them to be together, even though you know it's wrong and dangerous.