Review: Our Little World

Our Little World by Karen Winn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A coming of age novel set in the 1980's, although sometimes it feels more like the 1950's to this reader. This is also a "what if" novel -what if I did this or what if I did that differently-that sort of thing.

It is an in-depth look at what happens in a small neighborhood/small town when a 4-year-old goes missing at the lake one day. It was also an in-depth look at sisters who are only one year apart in age—jealousies, secrets (some huge ones), crushes, lies, etc. But, of course, the adults have their secrets too.


This neighborhood is fascinating, and all of the characters are fascinating. But unfortunately, I will be one of the few who didn't connect or like any of the MAIN characters. Especially not Borka and Audrina.

I didn't have a sister that close to me in age, so I don't know if this is really the way close in age sisters really act. It just seemed off to me. Oh, some of their antics I could see sisters doing, but some things were just so hurtful that I don't know how they could forgive each other.

There is a bit of a twist and an interesting chapter at the end of one of the sisters describing her adult life. Of course, anything else I could say would be a spoiler.

*ARC supplied by the publisher-Dutton/Penguin Books, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "July 1985. It’s a normal, sweltering New Jersey summer for soon-to-be seventh grader Bee Kocsis. Her thoughts center only on sunny days spent at Deer Chase Lake, evenings chasing fireflies around her cul-de-sac with the neighborhood kids, and Max, the boy who just moved in across the street. That and the burgeoning worry that she’ll never be as special as her younger sister, Audrina, who seems to effortlessly dazzle wherever she goes.

But when Max’s little sister, Sally, goes missing at the lake, Bee’s long-held illusion of stability is shattered in an instant. As the families in her close-knit community turn inward, suspicious, and protective, things in Bee’s own home become increasingly strained, most of all with Audrina, when a shameful secret surfaces. With everything changed, Bee and Audrina’s already-fraught sisterhood is pushed to the limit as they grow up—and apart—in the wake of an innocence lost too soon.

Perfect for readers of Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You, Our Little World is a powerful and lyrical coming-of-age story that examines the complicated bond of sisterhood, the corrosive power of envy, and how the traumas of our youths can shape our identities for a lifetime."