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    A List of Cages
    A List of Cages
    A List of Cages
    Audiobook8 hours

    A List of Cages

    Written by Robin Roe

    Narrated by Graham Halstead and Christopher Gebauer

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what's really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives. First-time novelist Robin Roe relied on life experience when writing this exquisite, gripping story featuring two lionhearted characters.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 10, 2017
    ISBN9781501938979
    A List of Cages
    Author

    Robin Roe

    Robin Roe has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s from Harvard. She counseled adolescents in Boston before she moved to Dallas to run a mentoring program for at-risk teens. Her debut novel A List of Cages was named one of the Best Young Adult Books of the Year by Goodreads, Chapters Indigo, EpicReads, BookPage, Powell’s Books, The Texas Library Association, and Buzzfeed. You can read more about Robin at www.robinroewriter.com and follow her on Instagram @robinroewriter.

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    Reviews for A List of Cages

    4.5/5

    159 ratings16 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A hard but amazing book. While this book deals with many hard issues, like child abuse, it also shows the hope and strength that can be found after loss.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. I cried alot but I loved it!
    • 5/5
      This was the most heart-breaking book I have read in a long, long time. I kept having to stop reading to decompress. Julian is a quiet orphan who is a freshman in high school. He lives with his uncle Russell who is systematically abusing him. Julian is a loner at school who has difficulty talking. He's also dyslexic even though he writes incredible stories.Julian meets Adam who was his foster brother after his parents death and before his uncle was located. Adam befriends him again despite the fact that he is a popular senior. He starts including Julian in his activities with his friends. Adam has ADHD but is off meds and has learned coping strategies. He has an incredibly supportive mother and has a positive, upbeat attitude to life.But Julian is keeping secrets about his home life. When he misses school after his uncle beats him, he says he was sick. Once Adam finds him after his uncle has hurt him but Julian convinces Adam not to tell anyone. Julian fears that he doesn't have any options. If his uncle abandons him, he will have nowhere to go.After further abuse from his uncle, Adam finds him and he ends up hospitalized. He is taken out of his uncle's custody and placed with Adam and his mother. Thing are looking up for Julian but uncle Russell is still lurking.The scenes of the abuse Julian suffers were horrifying. This story was told both from Julian's and Adam's point of view. Both had unique and distinctive voices. Together they told a story that was both horrifying and hopeful.
    • 2/5
      I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one. I loved Adam and I loved Julian. I loved their brotherly relationship, and I thought that it was portrayed well. Most of Adam's friends were stereotyped. The hipster/musician, the slut, the MC's crush. The only one that seemed unique was the BFG stereotype, who managed to break out of his stereotype by not being that friendly. I actually liked Charlie, once he started to be nice to Julian. Emerald (MC's crush) had more personality, but she was really just a stereotype with personality. I felt that her romance with Adam was just a distraction from the story. From Julian. The only thing that she did that moved the plot was when she told Adam that he couldn't call the police without Julian's permission, and that was a negative way to move the plot. I can understand why Julian's desperate pleading would stop them from calling the police--at least right then, but even if Julian made Adam promise not to tell the school's psychologist, I don't know how Adam could have gone without telling his mother. He seemed so close to his mother, and his mother cared desperately for both Adam and Julian. She would have been able to find a way to get Julian out of there without betraying his trust. I guess I just don't understand how you can know that something terrible is happening to someone, and not do anything about it. I can see being in a place where you don't know what to do because you know you should call the police, but the person you need to help is begging you not to, but I don't understand not doing anything. Not telling your mother. Especially because Adam's mother loved both Adam and Julian. I also found the resolution between Adam and Emerald to be forced. The kind of emotions that Adam would have been feeling after saving Julian is the type of thing that would end a relationship. He knew that he was (to a certain degree) wrong to blame Emerald for not calling the police, but he couldn't help feeling anger at her. And anger at himself. And she would probably have blamed herself too. The resolution felt forced. Like the author wanted this relationship fixed and tied in a little bow, but relationships are messy, and especially after such an experience, they both would have had to work out how they felt. Especially Adam. She told him not to call the police when Adam's (sort of) little brother was being beaten. That is not something that would be ironed out in a short talk by a lake. I guess I didn't like Emerald that much. Her character was fairly bland and she was a distraction from the plot. I wish authors realized that there doesn't always have to be a romance in YA books. And the one thing Emerald did contribute to the plot was to tell Adam not to call the police. That's the thing that everyone tells you TO do if you realize someone you know is experiencing abuse. Adam shouldn't have had to cope with figuring out what to do without an adult.

      I did like Charlie. His natural jealously at his best friend's new friend, and his resentment of that, and his knowledge (never acknowledged, but implied) that that was wrong, and finally, his reluctant warming to Julian, and the moment when he saw both Adam and Julian in danger, and saved their lives.

      The ending was forced. It was exciting, but it didn't feel real. Russell was wanted for child abuse but "no one was really looking for him." People cared so little that he was able to wander back to the house where Julian was staying and nearly kidnap him. I have not to research into police tactics, but I think that if a child is found locked in a trunk, beaten and nearly dead, they would take finding the perpetrator a lot more seriously. Such a thing would have made the news. And they would have searched the house for evidence, not just cleared out Julian's stuff. I doubt if Julian and Adam could have just waltzed right back into that house, and even if they could have, I think the police would have already searched it and cleared out the sick thing that Adam found. Yes, it made for an exciting climax, having Russell show up, try to kidnap Julian and get shot, but that's not how real life works. In real life, Julian would have had to endure watching Russell go to trial. He would have had to testify against him, and deal with the psychological effects of the abuse he endured, and of having to testify against Russell. That isn't something ties an ending up with a neat bow, but it's real life. Okay, I can see why the author did it. We read books to escape, and that means we want a neat little happy ending tied in a bow. But this horrifying types of stories do not end with a bow, so it felt forced and unrealistic to have such an ending, and that took me out of the book.

      I think that this would have been better as a new adult book, or even an adult book. The abuse was chronicled in too much detail for a book for teens, and if it had been an adult book that there would have been a sort of permission granted the author that isn't given in teen books, to not resolve everything. I think that that would have ended the book better. To have Julian healing, but not perfectly well and content, and nothing bad will ever happen to him again, and he doesn't have any psychological issues to deal with anymore. That ending so perfect took me out of the book, because it felt so unrealistic. And again, I thought that we were given too much detail of the abuse. If this had been an adult book, at least I would have expected it, but even if this had been an adult book, I don't think we needed such horrifying, stomach hurting detail.

      Again, I loved Adam and Julian, and the bond they shared, I wanted to see more of their brotherly relationship. But there was a lot in the book that I didn't love. I think if there had been less detail of the abuse, and no stupid unnecessary teen romance, and no unrealistically perfect bow at the end of the story, I think that I would have loved this book, but there was too much.
    • 4/5
      This book broke my heart for both boys.

      Adam is a senior, with ADHD, who is well liked, always happy, considered clumsy.
      Julian is a freshman, who is small, nervous, abused by his uncle, lived with Adam as a foster kid when he was younger.

      p 188 contains a quote from Julian that I loved.
      People I love will be watching me. Their eyes like safety nets, I can't fall.

      Questions I was left with after reading or things that made me uneasy:

      Why was the uncle killed rather than in jail?
      Doesn't anyone remember that the recordings of the abuse are still around?
      What about Julian's inheritance money, house?
      Why the police were so weird with Adam--did they think he'd been the abuser?

    • 5/5
      Adam & Julian are friends made brothers. Adam is a senior just trying to finish High School, Julian is the quiet freshman kid who likes to keep to himself, write stories, stays out of trouble & spends his lunch hour in a secret room in the school theater.
      As the school counselor helps Julian to work thorough the loss of his parents, there is more than meets the eye.
      When the truth of Julian's living situation is revealed, both of their lives are put on the line. This raw, heartbreaking story is one that beautifully speaks to the true meaning of friendship, brotherhood & family; You will need time to let this amazing debut sink in, and will linger long after the story is over.

    • 5/5
      WOW. Just--- WOW.

      Sometimes, you find a book on a whim. You see it at the bookstore, read the synopsis and put it back, whispering "next time." It took me 5 months before I bought this book, but I am so glad I did. I had heard nothing about it, but the girl at the bookstore got excited when she saw me with it. Rightfully so: this book definitely deserves more hype, because it is a gem.

      Okay, first off, this book deals with some SERIOUS topics, but it does it in a very genuine way. Everything feels real-- the pain, the confusion, but also the happiness and hope. This isn't a "they all get better the end" type of story, but rather a story where the effects of pain are addressed, with a hopeful outlook in the end. There's so much life in this book too, so that even when the story ends, you know there's so much more left in the lives of Adam and Julian. And while I would love to see a slice of that, I'm glad we don't. Let my boys heal together, and love together, and be the family they always should have been.

      I don't want to say much in fear of saying too much, but this book is phenomenal, and the ending had me screaming and falling onto the floor. It's incredible story, dealing with serious topics in a gentle, but realistic, voice. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes YA and sad (but ultimately uplifting!) books.
    • 5/5
      This was difficult to read at times. But it’s beautiful and I loved it.
    • 5/5
      Phenomenal from the writing to the characters, to the story. Easily going on my favorites list!
    • 4/5
      A decent YA book with a happy ending. Overall, it was a good read. The violence wasn’t too graphic, and the language was pretty appropriate for high school seniors that the characters were supposed to be. However, I would have like to have gotten inside the characters’ thoughts a bit more; it felt a little bit surface which made it a little difficult to engage.
    • 5/5
      Wow! This book is amazing. If you like realistic contemporary young adult novels, put this on your to be read list. In the same vein as John Green's many works and The Hate U Give, Robin Roe has written a touching, heartwrenching story.The story line moves seamlessly between Julian's and Adam's points of view to fill in the storyline completely. A novel that tackles the tough truths of abuse, loss, love and living in foster care, told in the authentic voices of two young men, it is a true masterpiece.
    • 5/5
      What an amazing book this was; both horrific and wonderful at the same time. I absolutely adored the main characters, Julian and Adam, who both narrated the story. Their voices were authentic and distinctive, and from the start I was pulled into their story. Their friendship was precious and portrayed beautifully.Even though there was a four year age difference, Julian felt much younger simply because of his circumstances. He was such a beautiful character and all I wanted to do was take him home and shield him from the world. His story tore my heart to pieces. I was appalled at everything he had to endure.Then there was Adam; dear, dear boy! I loved him, too. His protective, big-brother attitude towards Julian was truly touching. He was so kind, caring and just plain nice, and the fact he had ADHD added another interesting element to the book. Adam's mother and his friendship group were all very relatable and supportive characters, and well-fleshed out.There was only one despicable character in this book - Russell. I hated him with a passion and often had murderous thoughts towards him. His cruelty was horrendous."A List of Cages" was emotionally draining and is certainly the best book I've read so far in 2017. I can't believe this was a debut novel, there was so much soul in it. Thank you Ms Roe, this is one novel that has truly moved me and will remain with me for a very long time. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      AFter his parents are killed in a car accident, Julian is sent to live with a foster family. After 8 months there, he is transferred to live with a distant relative in the same town. STarting high school, he meets up with his former foster brother, Adam. Changes in Julian's behavior let everyone know that something is wrong at his guardian's house. But Julian asks Adam not to tell anyone.
    • 4/5
      A special thank you to NetGalley and Disney Book Group/Disney-Hyperion for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

      This was a solid 4/5 stars for me. The climax was a little contrived, but overall, it was wonderfully written with carefully thought out characters.

      Adam Blake is a senior with an interesting elective; he is an aide to the school psychologist. Adam has ADHD and perhaps sitting around isn't the best choice for him, but with his incredibly positive outlook he rises to the challenge of working for Dr. Whitlock. His first task is to track down a troubled freshman that has been avoiding their sessions with said doctor, and that boy is Julian who five years earlier was his foster brother. Adam is thrilled at their reunion. Julian is still kind, shy, quiet, and loves his Elian Mariner books, but there is something off about him. He is secretive and hides out during the day, often misses school, and things aren't what they appear with his home life. Adam is determined to help Julian, resuming his "big brother" role, but at what cost?

      This was a solid 4/5 stars for me. The climax was a little contrived, but overall, it was wonderfully written with carefully thought out characters. This is Roe's debut novel and her future is as bright as ten thousand stars.
    • 5/5
      This book was provided to me as an advance reader copy by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

      When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what's really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives. First-time novelist Robin Roe relied on life experience when writing this exquisite, gripping story featuring two lionhearted characters.

      Trigger warning: This book contains multiple instances of emotional and physical abuse.

      We’re not even two weeks in, and I can already tell you this is going to be a year of emotionally charged reading. A List of Cages is horrible and wonderful, ugly and beautiful, soul-crushing and uplifting. It is all of them at the same time. It almost broke my brain because I was feeling too many emotions, and it almost broke my heart because it was so nightmarishly real. Thank goodness there are people like Adam and his mom in the world, because I can tell you there are definitely “Julians” out there who need them. I love and hate this book. I would recommend A List of Cages to readers 14 and older who can handle such an emotionally mature subject.
    • 5/5
      This book was amazing. When I decided to read this book, I hadn't seen anything about it. The description looked compelling so I took a chance on it. I made a very good decision because this book ended up not only being one that I couldn't put down but one that I couldn't stop thinking about long after reading the final page. The story is both heartbreaking and hopeful with characters you want to spend as much time with as possible. This was an incredibly well told story.Adam is the kind of kid that seems to have everything going for him. He has a great relationship with his mother and a very good home life. He has a tight group of friends that he cares about. He is a senior in high school and he is doing great in school. Adam seems to know just the right thing to say and sometimes can even make things better by offering up a quick smile at just the right time. Adam does have to deal with his ADHD but he has things generally under control.Julian has had to deal with a lot in his life. His parents both died in a car crash when he was very young. He actually spent some time in the foster system and lived with Adam and his mother for a period of time. Julian moved in with his uncle years ago and as far as everyone knows everything is fine at home. But everything is not fine at home. Not by a lot. To make matters worse, Julian has no friends and is often teased and bullied at school. When Adam sees Julian at school and they reconnect, Julian is eager to be around someone that actually wants him around.This wasn't really an easy story to read. My heart broke so many times while I read this book. I felt like I was there with Julian every time somebody said something mean to him and I was there with him at his house with his uncle. I also felt Adam's uncertainty regarding what was the right thing to do. Adam's determination to be there for his friend no matter what was equally powerful. The truly sad part of this book is that these kind of stories aren't too different than what really happens to some teens. This book was wonderfully written. I honestly put the book down once to sleep and then picked it back up again and couldn't put it down until I was done. I loved the characters. Adam and Julian were wonderful but there was a whole cast of people in this book that each added something worthwhile to the story. Some scenes were intense and the way that they were written made them seem so incredibly real and vivid. I would highly recommend this book to others. I think that this is a book that needs to find its way into everyone's hands. I cannot remember the last time that I was as emotionally involved in a book as I was with this one. It was really that good. I received an advance reader edition of this book from Disney Book Group via NetGalley.