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    Ask Him Why
    Ask Him Why
    Ask Him Why
    Audiobook9 hours

    Ask Him Why

    Written by Catherine Ryan Hyde

    Narrated by Amy McFadden, Nick Podehl and Scott Merriman

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde comes a stunning, emotional story of a young soldier’s unthinkable act…and the unbreakable bonds between a sister and brother.

    Ruth and her little brother, Aubrey, are just teenagers when their older brother ships off to Iraq. When Joseph returns, uninjured, only three and a half months later, Ruth is happy he is safe but also deeply worried. How can it be that her courageous big brother has been dishonorably discharged for refusing to go out on duty? Aubrey can’t believe that his hero doesn’t have very good reasons.

    Yet as the horrifying details of the incident emerge, Joseph disappears. In their attempts to find him, Ruth and Aubrey discover he has a past far darker than either of them could imagine. But even as they learn more about their brother, important questions remain unanswered—why did he betray his unit, his country, and now his family? Joseph’s refusal to speak ignites a fire in young Aubrey that results in a disastrous, and public, act of rebellion.

    The impact of Joseph’s fateful decision one night in Baghdad will echo for years to come, with his siblings caught between their love for him and the media’s engulfing frenzy of judgment. Will their family ever make their way back to each other and find a way to forgive?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateDec 15, 2015
    ISBN9781511309523
    Ask Him Why
    Author

    Catherine Ryan Hyde

    Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of twenty-five books, which include Where We Belong, When You Were Older, Walk Me Home, When I Found You, Don’t Let Me Go, The Language of Hoofbeats, and Take Me With You, among others. More than fifty of her short stories have been published in various literary magazines. Following the success of Pay It Forward, Catherine founded the Pay It Forward Foundation and served as president until 2009. She lives in California with her dog, Ella, and their cat, Jordan. To learn more about the foundation and other forthcoming books, visit CatherineRyanHyde.com.

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    Reviews for Ask Him Why

    4/5

    87 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      As always, I read others reviews before writing my own. I get where some people are coming from. This is not about plot, this is about characters and family dynamics. Why would you give a book a poor review because it didn’t provide the “cliffhangers” you thought it should have? I don’t get it.Okay, off the soapbox now. This is the first book I have read from this author, although I have a couple of others on my Kindle. I primarily know her, of course, from Pay it Forward, a film I love and use in some of my high school classes. From what I can tell, Hyde focuses on broken people and broken relationships, and how those people and relationships achieve at least some measure of healing.And that’s what this book is about. Yes, the parents, particularly the father, come from the stock box of Horrid, Self-Centered Parents. The mother, however, changes as the book moves from past to present telling.While Joseph’s mutinous action is the impetus for the action of the book, he himself is a minor character, and passes through the book relatively unchanged. The true focus of the book is his younger siblings. They are each scarred, both by their family dynamic and the social repercussions of Joseph’s action. I think Hyde’s recounting of what happens to them in their school and community because of their brother rings true, given today’s media-fed society in which people snap to instant judgement of those around anyone who, in their eyes, errs.Characters along the way, as well as a healthy dose of time, help both Aubrey and Ruth along. Ruth heals much more easily than Aubrey does. Aubrey is particularly hurt by his brother’s actions, and is dysfunctional well into adulthood, while Ruth is able to achieve a fairly normal life and family.Oddly, along the way, no one asks Joseph why he did what he did—hence the title of the book—and his answer, when the question finally comes up, helps the rift between him and Aubrey to finally heal.Based on this book, I think I’m going to enjoy reading others by this author. It was a fairly quick read for me.Possible Objectionable Material:Dysfunctional family. Minor cursing. Disobedient kids. Social ostracism. Discussions of suicide.Who Would Like this Book:Older teens and up. Male or female. Those who like stories about people, redemption, healing, families. Approximate Lexile: 1000Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Catherine Ryan Hyde always blows my mind with her character development and the way both they and I learn and grow thru the story and experiences. This was no exception!!
    • 4/5
      This is a think piece. The oldest son was a soldier before being sent home. He wouldn't go out on a mission. That is breaking the law so it turns into a big deal that makes the entire family suffer and never be the same. It changes everything. They have to finally get past the fallout years later. It's touching.
    • 4/5
      Ruth and her little brother, Aubrey, are teenagers when her older brother, Joseph, ships off to Iraq. When her brother returns three months later and is dishonorably discharged, it ignites a family crisis as friends and neighbors shun the, and the media is relentless in their pursuit of the "story." Aubrey feels betrayed by his hero and Ruth knows there is more to the story but is unsure what and how to ask.
    • 5/5
      Hyde has written so many books---and yet it's very hard to ever be disappointed. This book captured so many feelings about judgements we make based on little more than air.
    • 5/5
      I received a free advance e-copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a story about a very broken and dysfunctional family with many boundaries that no one is allowed to cross. They prefer to be silent rather than communicate. Big problems start when big brother Joseph is dishonorably discharged from military service in Iraq. The author lets us see how unrelenting and cruel the press can be as they hound Joseph’s family. It takes 10-1/2 years before anyone asks big brother Joseph why he did what he did. I recommend reading this book to find out how after a family disaster and crisis a very kind, wise, and unselfish stranger helps to bring this broken family back together. “Ask Him Why,” is a well written and thought provoking book with a message and should be on everyone’s reading list.
    • 3/5
      Ask Him Why is the newest release by author Catherine Ryan Hyde. It is well written and I liked the plot, however I did find the book a bit hard to get into. I was unable to relate to the characters and the plot moved slowly, although it did get faster farther into the book. I would recommend this to fans of the author and those interested in the plot.Note: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
    • 3/5
      This is not a bad book, I just could not find myself relating or connecting with all of the characters in this book. Or maybe I did connect in some way as I could not stand most of them. I really only found Aubrey, Aunt Sheila, and Joseph to be interesting. The rest of the family I had no interest in. In fact, I found Aubrey, Ruth, and Joseph's mother to really piss me off. Any time she made an appearance in the story, I would cringe and after a while, I would quickly flip past her parts. Which I have to comment and say that as much as I appreciated the family dynamics surrounding Joseph's circumstance, I did grow tried at times of how slowly the story read. It seemed like parts would be repeated again and again but in different ways. A good ending though to this story.