Don't Let Me Go

By: Catherine Ryan Hyde

Narrated by: Chris Chappell, Cassandra Morris

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Former Broadway dancer and current agoraphobic Billy Shine has not set foot outside his apartment in almost a decade. He has glimpsed his neighbors--beautiful manicurist Rayleen, lonely old Ms. Hinman, bigoted and angry Mr. Lafferty, kind-hearted Felipe, and nine-year-old Grace and her former addict mother, Eileen. But most of them have never seen Billy. Not until Grace begins to sit outside on the building's front stoop for hours every day, inches from Billy's patio. Troubled by this change in the natural order, Billy makes it far enough out onto his porch to ask Grace why she doesn't sit inside, where it's safe. Her answer: "If I sit inside, then nobody will know I'm in trouble. And then nobody will help me." Her answer changes everything.

By the best-selling author of When You Were Older and Pay It Forward, Don't Let Me Go is the heartbreaking, funny, and life-affirming story of a building full of loners and misfits who come together to help a little girl survive--and thrive--against all odds.

©2012 Catherine Ryan Hyde (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"An excellent read." ( New Books Review)

"Original and wonderful." ( The Sun)

"Catherine Ryan Hyde at her utter best." ( ChickLit Reviews)

Slow Moving to Say the Least

Any additional comments?

While this is not a bad book, it might be better to read it in print as opposed to the audio version. It's a little slow moving and when you have to listen to every-single-word-so-slowly, your mind starts to drift.

The main character, Grace, is a little reminiscent of Shirley Temple. All "Golly gee you can do it Mr.!" But it's a cute story, with a positive message about how people can help each other change if they only take a chance to reach out to one another.

Fell in love with the characters.

One little girl brings her neighbors together, makes a difference and touches us with her honesty.

An inspiring book

this book reminds me what an impact we can have on the lives of others, negative or positive. 9 yr old Grace brings her neighbors together and changes their lives forever. She had the power to move mountains, and so do we.

It takes a village

In this case it took a group of neighbors in 9 year old Grace’s apartment building to take care of her. Grace’s mother, an addict continuously relapsed. This kind, quirky group of neighbors took over to see that she got to school, was fed and watched over. Heartwarming story.

Just OK

What was most disappointing about Catherine Ryan Hyde’s story?

The male narrator. He sounded monotone, no inflection, no difference between characters, and made no effort with accents.

Did Chris Chappell and Cassandra Morris do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Cassandra Morris did. She gave different voices, her child's voice was spot-on, and Felipe's accent was well-done.

Was Don't Let Me Go worth the listening time?

I finished it, but it was just OK. A bit too long. Grace's character was a little too perceptive to be believable. I can see a child growing up faster than usual in her circumstances, but to be that aware of others' feelings at age 9 is a bit unrealistic. Her mom was frustrating, although I get that this was on purpose. I am not especially familiar with the foster system, but hope that it is not so bad as to remove a child from a situation that is safe and supportive in favor of a place completely unfamiliar to the child. I did appreciate the description of addiction as being unable to resist immediate gratification at the cost of future needs. I hoped Jessie would have been interested in Billy rather than Rayleen, as a more interesting connection. And I thought Billy should have kept the cat.

Good for young adults.

Probably closer to 2.5 stars. Although I have mixed feelings about this book, I liked the book in spite of myself. I listened to the audiobook and, on balance, the two readers do a good job, although with one major letdown to which I return below. It isn’t great writing—more on the order of a TV-script for the Hallmark channel. it seems to be directed toward young adults.

This is a contemporary, character-bssed story, without a great deal of action, so it is important that the reader find the people believable, and that is where it lost me. As indicated in the publisher’s description, it centers primarily on 9-year-old Grace and 30-something Billy. While they are both sympathetic people, I found their personalities inconsistent. A nine-year old would be in the 4th or 5th grade, yet sometimes she talks as if she were a first-grader while other times as if she were 16 and wiser beyond her years. She is made less credible in part because the female reader, Cassandra Morris, gives Grace a little girl voice, like a cartoon character. Although she is obviously a smart girl, she never seems to spend any time on homework. In short, Grace was not really a believable character.

Although Billy is also highly intelligent, a former dancer now in his late 30’s, I believe. He is agoraphobic and apparently hadn’t gone outside for the past 12 years. Besides panic attacks, which fit his personality, he also seems to manifest symptoms of OCD as well as autism, which are in conflict with his actual behavior and level of awareness. So I found that he too was an inconsistent and not believable character.

I found some of the secondary characters far more realistic than these two main characters.

It's hard to say to whom I would recommend it; perhaps to someone in still in high school.

outstanding

I thoroughly enjoyed this heartwarming story and did not want it to end. I have loved every book I've read by Hyde but this is my favorite so far! Highly recommend!

Wonderful book and narration

My favorite kind of books are those that start out with characters that evolve in a positive way as the narrative progresses. This fits the bill to perfection.

Really great read

I loved how the whole building looked after Grace, this was a daily deal that I took a chance on and I got a fantastic deal. New to me author with a heart warming story about a little girl who brings together a whole group of people who help her.

I enjoyed the narration and was introduced to more new narrators.

Another great CRH novel

Great story for this time in a pandemic! A story of hope were neighbors watch out for each other and form a real community. Even the evil bigot has the wherewithal to do something nice for a his neighbors.