Product Description
In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old--playing make-believe, dreading school, dreaming of faraway places. But even her imaginative mind can't shut out the realities of her impoverished North Carolina home or help her protect her younger sister, Emma.

By turns achingly naïve and utterly pragmatic, Carrie has been shaped by the loss of her beloved daddy, and mired by a drunken stepfather and emotionally absent mother. Charting an astonishing course of survival for herself and Emma, she hopes to transform their life into one more closely resembling the storybooks she treasures.

But after the sisters' plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn-and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.

Narrated with the simplicity and unabashed honesty of a child's perspective, Me & Emmais a vivid portrayal of heartbreaking loss of innocence, an indomitable spirit and incredible courage--a story that will resonate with readers of all ages and experiences.

Amazon.com Review
The title characters in Me & Emma are very nearly photographic opposites--8-year-old Carrie, the raven-haired narrator, is timid and introverted, while her little sister Emma is a tow-headed powerhouse with no sense of fear. The girls live in a terrible situation: they depend on an unstable mother that has never recovered from her husband’s murder, their stepfather beats them regularly, and they must forage on their own for food.

Stop here and you have a story told many times before, as fiction and nonfiction in tales like Ellen Foster, or I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings --stories in which a young girl reveals the horrors of her childhood. Me & Emma differentiates itself with a spectacular finish, shocking the reader and turning the entire story on its head. Through several twists and turns the reader learns that things are not quite the way our narrator led us to believe and everything crescendos in a way that (like all good thrillers) immediately makes you want to go back and read the whole book again from the start. --Victoria Griffith

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 113 reviews)

wonderfully writen and probing

this book is one of my favorites out of the hudreds i have ever read. in this book, carrie and her sister rely on eachother to withstand their stepfathers constant abuse and lack of a mother. when thier stepfather makes them move to a new town, carrie suddenly finds herself liked and popular. emma becomes more of a burden and less of a friend until it comes time to go back home.
at home, thier dad is dinking more and more, and his abuse is getting worse. thier mother, already emotialy absent, becomes merly a shell. however the author shows in some parts the suprising extent to which the mother tries to protect her children.
flock does a wonderful job of providing subtle hints at how carries mental and emotinal health are warped by her constant abuse. the ending leaves you wondering, but also satisfied. flock truly did a masterpiece writing this. :)

August 30, 2008

Excellent writing but I hated this book

This was a book club selection so I had to finish it. It got a good response from most everyone in our book club but I have to say, I hated this book and would never recommend it to anyone. I was depressed the whole time I was reading it.
August 23, 2008

Difficult to get through - but so worth it.

I began this book over a year ago and could not make myself go further than 20 pages or so. I started re-reading for lack of anything else to read and eventually came to the end - I suppose that was the point. It was difficult to get past the narration of an 8 year old girl. Their life seemed so hopeless. I hated the mother in this book probably as much as I hated Richard. She was so cold and indifferent to the abuse that Carrie and Emma suffered. That was part of my struggle, I kept thinking why am I reading about the suffering of thess poor children? My heart went out to Emma who everyone seemed to hate. Carrie took such good care of her when her own mother disregarded her. Someone wrote in their review that the end "hit them like a ton of bricks". That is exactly how it hit me. Now I have to go back and re-read it. Definitely worth the struggle to get through.
August 04, 2008

Picked it up, put it down, picked it up....

And finally finished it.

The story drags along in all directions, and then you are blindsided by a ending that made me throw it down rather than put it down. I was disappointed, but luckily I wasn't looking for much more than a "beach book" anyhow. If you need an easy reader for a plane, give it a shot. Although if you are already in a depressed mood, don't bother, this one will just keep you there, possibly make it worse.

The story is there, but I agree with another reviewer, it needs another edit. I couldn't see the ending (any ending, literally, and the one Ms. Flock used didn't help), and was bothered by the character of the mother. A depressed, mentally ill women who cannot stick up for her child(ren) and marrys an abusive, alcoholic who makes the story just that much better (insert sarcasm here). Needless to say I didn't get anything out of it.
August 04, 2008

Intense and well-crafted plot

Read it because: It has the best surprise twist since The Sixth Sense

This is a story about family, trauma, abuse, and the extreme lengths humans are able to go to in order to endure and survive. It is told from the viewpoint of 8-year-old Carrie, whose stepfather is an alcoholic monster, whose mother is a desperate but neglectful battered woman, and whose younger sister, Emma, is the one bright spot in her life. It is jarring to hear this story, complete with graphic abuse and heart-wrenching social awkwardness, through the eyes and ears of such a young child. Carrie's voice is sincere, earnest and eager to please, while at the same time reflecting true-to-life confusion and isolation. Emma, her sister, is her counterpart, stronger and more resilient than Carrie. Each sister has adapted in necessary ways to the insanity around them. The two of them struggle together and find solace in one another as the adults around them self-destruct.

I will not explain any more of the story for fear of ruining the ending. Rest assured that after finishing this book, you will immediately open it back up to page one so that you can experience it again in a new light.

July 19, 2008

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