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I found the most appealing aspect of "Orphan Train" to be the juxtaposition between the past and the present. The author does a great job intertwining the relevance of one character's experience with the orphan train and the other character's present reality. I think in general, the public is relatively unaware of the "orphan train experience" and this novel is a real eye opener, describing the sadness of the times.

arpi05 wrote:Just like all the others, I too absolutely loved the beginning of the story. The whole concept of Orphan Trains was really new and fascinating to me. It made me realize that there's so much more in the world that we don't know about. Actually, that's the thing I llove about books, they show you a side on this world which is untouched, unexplored.

Completely agree with you on this. There's so much to learn from books and the unexplored theme is what caught my attention as well.

I would hope the story line and the plot themselves would be enough to draw in the public. After all, who wants to read something that doesn't grab their interest as soon as they see it. I know personally, if the plot doesn't seem interesting enough, I'm usually not motivated to read it.

Genaaa wrote:I would hope the story line and the plot themselves would be enough to draw in the public. After all, who wants to read something that doesn't grab their interest as soon as they see it. I know personally, if the plot doesn't seem interesting enough, I'm usually not motivated to read it.

Same. I'll go for a book that has an interesting synopsis. The cover and title also help, ofcourse!

Genaaa wrote:I would hope the story line and the plot themselves would be enough to draw in the public. After all, who wants to read something that doesn't grab their interest as soon as they see it. I know personally, if the plot doesn't seem interesting enough, I'm usually not motivated to read it.

I also have to agree with this. After all, why bother to read a book that doesn't sound interesting? That kind of defeats the purpose of reading.

I think the fact that the orphan trains happened relatively recently from a historical perspective, and yet so many don't know about them would be a big draw to people. The cover initially made me pick it up, but when I read the back and realized that the orphan trains were still running within the last 100 years made me feel like I had to find out about them.

Amh73090 wrote:I think the story itself is interesting enough to pull the public in. At least that's how I get pulled in to books. If the story line is good enough I'd be willing to read almost anything.

I totally agree! I get dragged into reading the books I previously read because of the story. This book pulled me in the same way. There are some genres I am hesitant to read so I usually rely on how strong the story appeals to me when I read the synopsis.

I agree that the storyline is enough to pull people into this book especially if you like multiple storylines and historical fiction.

WOW! I hadn't heard of this book! I must put it on my shelf and read it very soon!

The first time I ever heard any story about the orphan train was from a colleague at work at a bank. The second time was from my Deacon in Helena. But I'd also always remembered that the original Little Rascals (it went by another name, I believe, as well) had the moving, sounding-off train in the background.

The one place I'd never heard of it? A history book.

Hush...

It was an aspect of history I was not familiar with. The most appealing aspects are the compelling story line, and the well-drawn characters. The author had done a good job with the research and the story was convincing.

DennisK wrote: ↑20 Aug 2016, 09:29 I loved mostly how the two main character's lives were woven together in the story. The modern day girl with her modern day problems and yesterday's child with all her hardships – both coming together in a healing and loving way. You can't get much better than that.

I agree. I loved the way the author went back and forth between the two characters. Vivian and the hardships she had to endure and Molly's struggles as a foster child in today's world. We are able to see the similarities, but I'm not sure Vivian and Molly can.

Amh73090 wrote: ↑17 Aug 2016, 10:31 I think the story itself is interesting enough to pull the public in. At least that's how I get pulled in to books. If the story line is good enough I'd be willing to read almost anything.

Exactly. It's the theme which makes a book great. I haven't read it but reading the review I think the story line is awesome!

The story line would be the first thing I would read and if I like it I would just grab it off the shelf and start scanning the pages.

As an adoptive mom, I am always drawn to these types of stories. Historical fiction is one of my favorites as well, especially when we learn about little-known stories like this one.

I was hooked from the very beginning of the book. The story was interesting and surprising to me. The orphan train was
Definitely a subject that I never knew about and fascinating to read