In This Way I Was Saved - Brian DeLeeuw

Ali Mark
Jan 7, 2016
3 min read

Published in 2009.

Pages: 291

Number of books by author: 2

Genre: Fiction

Luke and Daniel met when Luke was 6 - and then Daniel came to stay with them... for the rest of Luke's life.

(Warning: "explicit" language is used. Not for innocent ears... or eyes.)

You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:

Books that don't tell you what's actually happening
Childhood
Mental Illness
Family
Murder
Mystery

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.24. I think it was more deserving of a 3.00.

Pros: If you need something that will keep you entertained, this will certainly do it. I'm pretty sure I said "what the fuck" more in the last two days than I have in the last year. This was basically the biggest mind-trip. Nothing made sense, and everything made sense. If you want a book that literally leaves everything to the imagination, this will let you do it. This couldn't have been a better movie - and maybe I might know what the hell was happening. It kind of felt like, Gone Girl, not knowing what was actually happening - and once you think you know, that theory is ripped out of possibility. (I asked "what the fuck a lot in that movie, too.)

Now, reading this from the perspective of Daniel, instead of Luke, is definitely interesting... and I wonder if that's what made it feel so, mysterious. But it was definitely a good choice on the author's part.

Cons: As much as not knowing what was happening was a positive, it wasn't helpful when the book ended. I'll always remember this book as the book that left me hanging (and some people will love this, but I needed answers about Daniel, Luke, even Claire... hell, the epilogue itself needs to provide some answers).

As weird as this is, Luke is said to graduate high school at 19 - and make some legal decisions for himself at 21... but the legal age (or a state in which adulthood is declared) in the United States is 18, in every state. So it was really bothesome that a seemingly smart student was graduating at 19, and not able to make personal decisions for himself at 21. I'm not sure if the author is just an idiot, or if there was some reason that was listed that I didn't catch (although, I find this hard to believe because he was a junior at 18, which could make sense... but without repeating a grade, 19 is the age at which you're well out of high school).

And finally this book was nearly 300 pages - and it was so repetitive. For example, I think we spent nearly two chapters reading about Richard's 'out-there' behavior; we really could've covered it in a single chapter - however, I would've preferred just a few pages on his behavior and how it influenced both Daniel and Luke. I hate books that write without a purpose. And this book did that a lot - which may be contributed to the fact that this guy never wrote a book prior (and only one after). It was kind of like, 'blah, blah, important stuff here for 2 pages, then blah blah for 43 pages, then important stuff here for 1 page, etc.'