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    The Weight of Silence
    The Weight of Silence
    The Weight of Silence
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Weight of Silence

    Written by Heather Gudenkauf

    Narrated by Jim Colby, Eliza Foss, Cassandra Morris and

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Masterfully written and beautifully told, Heather Gudenkauf's debut is a stunning novel of family devotion, honesty and regret that will linger long after the last page is turned.

    It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

    Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by a tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.

    Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.

    Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered.

    Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

    Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children.
    And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

    “Deeply moving and exquisitely lyrical, this is a powerhouse of a debut novel.”—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 6, 2009
    ISBN9781440775987
    The Weight of Silence
    Author

    Heather Gudenkauf

    Heather Gudenkauf is an Edgar Award nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.  Heather lives in Iowa with her husband and children. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and running.

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    Reviews for The Weight of Silence

    4/5

    116 ratings53 reviews

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    • 4/5
      It's amazing how not really all that much happened in this book, but how completely engrossed I was. It is pretty much a 24 hour timeline story, which I usually am not gaga over, but this one is an exception. The writing style is gorgeous. The characters are likeable. And, that ending..... I can't even claim to be a cool kid who predicted it.... Seriously, I was suprised! Spoilers lie ahead.................... Callie is a selective mute, i.e., there is nothing wrong with her she just chooses not to speak. She is a platform of what a bad enviroment can do to a person. The end, finding out what her Dad said to her makes me so sad. I am 100% okay with him being "out of the picture" in the end. Alcoholism is one of those diseases that just discust me, especially when it is someone who has children. This book was heart-wrenching for Callie, Ben and their Mother. I have a complaint though.... It kinda bothered me how the Mother's child was missing and she was traispsing through her childhood and early adulthood thinking of her 1st love, the deputy sherriff. I have never been in her shoes, but it seems like if my child was missing some past lover would be the last thing in my mind. Granted, her circumstances are different with a drunk, abusive husband and all. I can see why she would long for a different life, but just not so much while her child was missing. My other thing is, why had she not just left him a long time ago. Seriously, he was awful to her and to their kids. There has to come a point where enough is enough. If he hadn't been killed in the end, she probably still would have went back to him and that is just sickening. The reality of it is sickening.... I'd also like to know what Callie's Dad was thinking that morning he took her into the woods. What were his intentions? I feel like I have complained too much... This book is soooo very good. I whole-heartedly suggest you read it. It will leave you speachless for a while

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I love this book! Cant wait to read these things hidden! Love the authors writing! Love Cali ...the book is kinda predictiable but you dont know all the details so it still leaves u guessing till the end!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I was not really sure what to expect with The Weight of Silence, but I liked it. It was kind of a mystery (think The Lovely Bones), but it was more of a character piece told from various points of view. It is a rather emotional tale of two girls lost in the woods, one who doesn't speak. But it is so much more than that. Over the course of a day, we get to know the full lives of these characters, making it an excellent character study.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Uniquely written, hard to put down, the story is very gripping. You almost think you know what has happened, but your're not really sure until the end.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      In as many months, I seem to have coincidentally read three novels that focus on selective mutism in children; `Breaking the Silence' by Diane Chamberlain, `December' by Elizabeth Winthrop- and now this one. All of the books have their merits and all deal with the subject matter in different ways and all have made for enjoyable, informative reading.This is the second novel by Gudenkauf that I have read. I really loved `These Things Hidden' so had high hopes for this one too. It didn't disappoint and I think the writing style is similar to Chamberlain or Picoult, so should you like those authors then you will probably enjoy this book as well.Set in the US, this book features Calli, eight-years-old and selectively mute for four years, for reasons that slowly become clearer as the book unfolds. This is not just a story concentrating on Calli though; it is a look at friendships, relationships and family and was actually a much more absorbing read than I'd initially anticipated, particularly looking at some other less-than-favourable reviews this novel had received in the past.As a reader you are immediately engaged with the novel and the different characters as you see events from their perspective. Sometimes a multiple narrator approach just doesn't work, but here thankfully, it was successful and really pulls you into the story. It also allowed the plot to untangle much more quickly. I was never bored whilst reading this novel.I was however frustrated and also angry with a lot of the characters- particularly Calli's awful father and her mother who seemed blind to his faults. Though Griff (the father) was a horrible person it was actually Antonia, the mother, who came off as more irresponsible overall. Some of the matters that take place later (involving a child) are also a bit grim and upsetting but the reactions to them seem a bit `glossed over' (even in the prologue which was set four years later). I would have liked people's thoughts and emotions to these said matters to be divulged and expanded on just a little bit more, particularly given how serious they were- which is why I have deducted a star.Generally this was a compelling novel. I really hope to read more by Gudenkauf again in future and hope it is as strongly written as this. *This review also appears on Amazon.co.uk*

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I really, really liked this book. I thought it was a little confusing the way it switched narratives, but I read the book in 3 days because I just couldn't put it down. It was a sad book and it made me want to cry a lot throughout the book. It was a really scary one, since I have kids and can identify with the moms in this book a lot. Highly recommend this book!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I really really enjoyed this book!! I listen to books during my work commute and with this one, I had to get the Ebook as well so that I could pick it back up at home during the evenings. I had the amazing opportunity to meet Heather Gudenkauf in June 2022 (she was gracious enough to come and speak to my book club) and she is a truly talented and admirable human. I can't say enough good things about her. This is one of my favs.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book so much i bought her other book. 4/5 stars from me. At times i found this book predictable but i enjoyed it none the less.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      It was one of the quickest paced books I have read in a long time. Gudenkauf kept the story moving. I enjoyed her style of writing and how connected she made feel to the characters.
    • 3/5
      This book was supposed to be suspenseful, yet the secrets were pretty easy to guess and that kind of ruined the suspense. Not bad, but not fantastic.Love the cover, though.
    • 4/5
      This novel tells the story of two young girls who go missing one morning and follows the fallout as people question each other while trying to find them. The two seven year olds are best friends even though one of them, Calli, has been mute for the past three years. The story alternates between the search and exposition of the stories of their families. Although I enjoyed the book very much, I would have liked it more if the author delved into the characters and relationships. I wonder why Calli's mother would marry her father, an abusive drunk, instead of her high school sweetheart who clearly still cares for her. The novel does explore why Calli became mute, and more important, what will make her talk again. I read this in the airport and on the plane and it held me rapt; hopefully it will do the same for you.
    • 4/5
      This is a gripping tale about a young girl who was taken into the woods due to her drunken father's rage, the same night her friend, Petra also goes missing from her bed. Told through the voices of all the people involved this story reminded me of a Jodi Picoult novel as the events led into other revelations about the character's past and relationships with one another. It would be a frightening thought to lose a child in the middle of the night and I think that Gudenkauf did a nice job portraying the anguish and events.
    • 5/5
      I REALLY enjoyed this one! I enjoyed Heather's writing style and the way that she pulled this story together.The book is told from a different point of view in each chapter which kept it interesting. Each character really had their own "voice" and you were able to see the story from each perspective.The storyline was sad and touching but at the same time showed what people can overcome. It also had some unexpected plot twists which really shocked me. I also found it to be a quick read. I liked it and hope you'll check it out.
    • 5/5
      I felt this book got off to a slightly slow start, but as soon as I was into the story I was absolutely flying through it, and couldn't wait to get to the next chapter to see what had happened to the two girls who had gone missing from their beds during the night.All the action takes place over one day as the girls' families and the police try frantically to find them. The story is told from a number of different viewpoints, in nice, short, easy to read chapters, and it unfolds really well, as we find out more and more background information about the girls' family life.This book will appeal to fans of Diane Chamberlain, as the style is very similar. I look forward to reading Heather Gudenkauf's next book.
    • 4/5
      Calli was a normal, happy, talkative little girl. Then one day something bad happened and she quit speaking. Petra is her best friend who understands her and speaks for her. The two little girls both disappear around the same time but perhaps they have just wandered into the woods as Calli often does. Have they been abducted or are they just lost? As time goes on and they are not found, suspicion falls on several people – an abusive father, a guidance counselor who takes too much interest in the children, perhaps even Calli's own brother? I'm not telling.The characters seem real, and even the good ones make bad mistakes, so many mistakes that the reader can't help but thinking “are you crazy, what's wrong with you?” The story is told in short chapters from the different viewpoints of several of the main characters, and I found that worked well for this particular book. Readers may be disturbed by the disappearance of the children and there are some nasty situations, but I didn't find it overly graphic for the story it was telling. I was not surprised to find why Calli quit speaking, but that was not the main mystery, despite the title, The Weight of Silence. It is an enjoyable, interesting read.
    • 5/5
      This was Heather Gudenkauf’s debut book and I would describe it as a beautiful music piece, just like a musical conductor directing his orchestra, she creatively put this lyrical suspense story together.Calli is a selective mute, hasn’t spoke in three years and she gives her side of the story in past tense and all others in present day, great style for the way this story was told.Calli and her best friend Petra have a magical friendship, one you don’t question you just accept as is. This story captures what happens in the past, is not forgotten and how it affects everyone, children and adults, and the terrible circumstances when choices are made, sometimes not the right one for everyone involved. The title weight of silence fully comes together at the end.There are numerous suspense twists, where are the girls, are they together, did someone abduct them, are they alive then you have who, what, where, omg it just keeps going. And the biggest suspense ‘elephant in the room’ answer you want is why doesn’t Calli speak?And at the end, it was the best Epilogue I have ever read, this was when I wanted to cry.
    • 4/5
      Briefly (NO SPOILERS) Calli and Petra - BFFs- aged 7, go missing early one morning. Parents, police, and townspeople begin the search in the woods behind the girls houses, where they liked to wonder. Ben, aged 14, Calli's brother goes into the woods to search. Gudenkauf writes from knowledge of disabilities. One of the little girls who is missing suffers from 'selective mutism.' Much of the book deals with the mystery of why she is unable to speak. Their is an element of mystery, a poignant lost love, great emotional development of all the characters. The book deals, in very short chapters, with the search for these two. Every character has a story, and Gudenkauf allows those characters to speak in their own voice. Normally I find changing voices a distraction, but here it works really well. The results of the search, and the resolution of personal issues I'll leave for the reader to find out.
    • 5/5
      The Weight of Silence was a book club selection. When I reflect on the title and the characters I feel that this is a great title for the book. Although some book club readers felt the book was too simplistic or adolescent, I felt that its simplicity contributed to its effect. Life often appears simplistic to others, no one knows the weight each carries as s/he deals with trying to make things look normal. The chapters are very short and remind one of the scenes quickly changing in a television program. I found the book kept my interest and was personally very thought provoking. A good read!
    • 3/5
      3.0 out of 5 stars Two little girls go missing in the night..., April 29, 2011I was expecting this to be a terrific read based on recommendations from several book lovers I know and admire. Unfortunately, in many ways, the novel fell short of my expectations and I turned the last page feeling let down and disappointed. I do tend to end up judging my books by the ending -- and this was part of the reason that I rated it only as 3 stars which means "it's OK" to me.The story premise -- two little 7 year-old girls, Calli and Petra, vanish from their separate homes in the middle of a hot Iowa night. They live in an isolated area that is surrounded by woods and it is there that much of the main story action is focused. Calli Clark is a selective mute -- she hasn't spoken a word since a tragedy she witnessed at age 4. Her best friend, Petra Gregory, is her voice and has protected Callie since they met.One morning, Calli's drunken brute of a father, Griff, drags her into the woods. Around the same time, for reasons not given to the reader, Petra leaves her house as well. When the girls are discovered missing, Deputy Sheriff Loras Louis launches a search for the girls. The deputy also happens to be the ex-boyfriend of Calli's mother, Antonia, and though he's married, he is of course still in love with her. The whole love triangle aspect of this book was completely predictable and left a negative impression on me and decreased my appreciation of the novel.The drama surrounding the disappearance and the reactions of the parents of the girls and Calli's brother Ben provided the best suspense of the book. The story was told, however, in different points of view and the characters never seemed to find their own individual voice so I didn't end up really connecting with any of them.The resolution falls flat and the epilogue, though it tied up all the loose ends, did not satisfy. I don't know if I will read this author's next book or not.
    • 5/5
      When two young girls go missing in the woods, the answers to their disappearance lie in the secrets of the past. This novel was riveting- once I started it, I just couldn't put it down. As the story of the girls is revealed, the clues to their disappearance gradually reveal a very different story than I was expecting. I found it difficult to relate to some of the characters, especially Antonia, but regardless was pulled along by the power of the narrative. This is an excellent debut novel with an ultimately redemptive story that will stick with you long after you finish the book.
    • 4/5
      The Weight of Silence is described in more than one place as a book Jodi Picoult fans will love. Well I’m a Jodi Picoult fan, but to be honest that’s not something that would make me want to read a book, what’s the point of reading a book that’s like a book you have already read, I don’t know. I can certainly see the comparison between Gundenkauf and Picoult, they have very similar writing styles and both seem to like using multiple narrators. However that’s where the comparison really ends. While Pioult’s books tend to have some central moral issue which gets the reader thinking there was no such issue in Weight of Silence. I suppose it is similar in the way we see different emotions and views of an event, but there is no internal debate.I did enjoy it all the same. It was actually a little bit of a mystery as we tried to work out what had happened to Petra (we are basically told what happened to Calli, or at least to a certain point). I admit that I did expect Calli’s mutism to be more of a central theme but really, while it was an interesting aspect, it didn’t seem necessary [highlight for spoiler]and where it could have mattered it didn’t that much. Nobody thought that Calli’s brother had actually hurt Petra, even though that was all she said. Calli’s big moment could have been done so much better and given a twist in the plot, or even just taken the reader in another direction. I did also guess what I think was meant to be a twist in the story [highlight for spoiler] and quite early on suspected Lucky. I really wasn’t surprised when we found out for sure it was him.The story was quite moving though, but not to the level where I felt uncomfortable reading it (I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not). It was very readable, in that it was written in an easy way to read and in that I wanted to find out what happened next. I also really liked how Calli’s chapters were written in the third person rather than her own voice (as the other chapters were) which suggested she couldn’t tell her story.
    • 4/5
      On a steamy summer morning, Martin Gregory rushes to Calli Clark's home. Martin's daughter, Petra, hasn't been home since early morning. He wonders if she might be with her friend, Calli. When Antonia Clark, Calli's mother, checks, she's shocked to find that Calli isn't home either. The wait is difficult and when the girls don't return, friends and police are called and a search is begun.Calli is a sweet, seven-year-old who suffers from selective mutism due to an incident where her father was abusing her mother. Her father, Griff, is an abusive, alcoholic who tells Calli that he's not even sure that she is his daughter.Ben is Calli's big brother. He's twelve and tries to take care of his little sister.The story is told from multiple viewpoints. This gives the reader a more personal knowledge of events and enables us to feel what the character must be experiencing. However, much of the writing in these viewpoints seems the same, I would have felt that when reading things from Calli at age seven, there would be much difference that Martin who is a professor. I didn't get that difference.I enjoyed the spunkiness of Calli and the courageousness of Ben. Calli's mother was a submissive character, perhaps symbolic of an abused wife.The novel did keep my attention throughout, however, the antagonist's motivation in his actions was not clear and the conclusion of the story was a bit too convenient.
    • 4/5
      Quick read, good story. Most of the main characters get their own viewpoints so you are able to really get into their heads.Two young girls go missing from their homes in the wee hours of the morning. Are they together? Did someone take them? What happened? What will their parents do if they discover anyone hurt them?Childhood friendships, marriages, the power of language - all that is explored in this story.
    • 2/5
      First: The condition described in the book is NOT selective mutism even though it's named as such, because the girl doesn't speak to anyone. So much is wrong about that diagnosis here my english isn't enough to describe it.
      Second: Most of the book was boring description of relationships, family and trauma until suddenly everything happened at once, but told from different perspectives with annoying cliffhangers. Many characters made bad decisions I didn't understand the reasoning for and I began hating them for it.
    • 5/5
      An excellent story presented in the words and thoughts (presenting their backstories) of multiple characters in the book. Well-written and thought provoking about how simple words can devastate in the right (or perhaps wrong) circumstances at the right moment especially when delivered to children.
    • 3/5
      As we know families are destroyed by alcohol and all of its affects. The Weight of Silence is a story of one family and the affect that alcohol plays in their lives. Calli a 7 year old girl has been silenced for four years by an event that she witnessed. Her older brother Ben has been touched by this event also as he struggles to care for his sister Calli. Antonia, their mom, battles with her role as mother, wife and friend not with any great success. The story unfolds with Calli being removed from her home at 4:30 in the morning by a very drunk, revengeful father. At the same time, her fiend Petra also leaves her home. Both head for the nearby woods where their lives will be forever changed.This is a well written novel moving from one character to the next. I quickly became invested in the lives of the characters and found myself becoming quit anxious as events unfolded. I recommend this novel in particular as a beach read. It moves very quickly with suspense and drama throughout.
    • 4/5
      This book was way more captivating than I expected it to be. I read the last 200 pages in one sitting because I had to find out what happened!A story about two little girls who go missing at the same time, takes the reader through the family histories of the two girls, while slowly unraveling the details of their disappearance. Each chapter comes from the point of view of a different character which keeps the story moving. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.
    • 4/5
      I was very pleased with this book. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I was worried that the plot about missing little girls might have been to emotional for this parent. However, the twist of the main character not speaking hooked me and I had to find out why. The story takes place in one day and is told by different characters, so you get a little bit more of the plot from different points of view. The resolution was pretty much a mystery to me until the end, both of what happened to the other girl and why the main character didn't speak.
    • 2/5
      Can I just start out by telling you that this is a terrible book? I'm going to be as nice as I can, but I only finished it because I was reading it with a friend and also I have a problem getting rid of books I haven't entirely read, and I wanted to get this one safely out of the house. So, the basic plot of the book is that two seven-year-old girls go missing early one morning from their small Iowa town. They are best friends and both live in houses that back onto a large forest. Petra is the only child of a middle-aged professor and his younger wife, who struggled for years to have a baby. Calli is the daughter of an abusive alcoholic father and a negligent, but loving mother who has a lot of issues. Calli has also not spoken since she was four and no one knows why, primarily because no one has tried to find treatment for her, although the school does send her to the guidance counselor a few times a week. The deputy in charge of the investigation had a long relationship with Calli's mother before they both married other people and they have a lot of unresolved feelings for each other. The story is told in very short chapters, switching between several points of view, making this book quite a bit shorter than its page count indicates. Luckily, the name of the person narrating is put up at the top of each segment in large letters, because the voice never alters. The seven-year-old girl sounds exactly like the middle-aged professor who sounds exactly like the under-educated mother. One of the girls has a third person narration, for no purpose I can fathom. There are several weighty issues dealt with in this book, from spousal abuse to child abuse to selective mutism to kidnapping to assault to alcoholism, but since there is so little room to explore each issue, you don't have to worry about taking any of them seriously and, indeed, the characters themselves don't worry about things too much. Are you wondering if I liked anything about this book? The cover was nice. I mean, it's a standard illustration, featuring the torso of a young girl facing away from the camera, but the clothes and the age of the girl actually correspond with a character in the book and it's a pretty picture. That was good. There was nothing really objectionable in the book; it didn't espouse satanism or have much in the way of swear words, which is something of an accomplishment considering one of the narrators was a twelve-year-old boy. The crime scene people were very tidy, which is nice because who wants to clean up fingerprint dust, right? They also don't find any clues, which are obvious and left to a parent to find, which means they may not have done the best job, but I really hate dusting and would not want to be having to worry about the parents here having to vacuum while their daughters were missing, so it was considerate of them. I think I, personally, might have wanted hundreds of law enforcement officers marching around my home in muddy boots if one of my children had disappeared, but the characters here seemed fine with the half dozen officers mentioned in this book, wandering around, talking about starting a search tomorrow sometime, so who am I to judge? Also, if the police had done their job, the thrilling climax would have been avoided entirely, and we all know that a thriller-like book needs a thrilling and dangerous climax.
    • 3/5
      I found this book at a Walmart while taking an anniversary trip with my boyfriend. I'm not really sure what motivated me to read it so quickly. It read like a Jodi Picoult novel, although not quite as good. The journey was fun and I'm glad I read/own it. But I can't bring myself to give it four stars because it isn't super exceptional in my opinion. While it's a fun ride, it begins to pan out towards then end and you can see the ending and epilogue almost laid out on a platter.