Book Review: What Could Be Saved

Want to know whether to read What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz? Well, here’s my full What Could Be Saved review to help you decide!

What Could Be Saved Summary

When a missing son and brother is found after more than 40 years, a family must confront the secrets that shaped their lives for decades.

In 1972, Robert and Genevieve Preston are living in Bangkok with their three young children and are eager to move back to the U.S. after four years away. But one August evening in the heat of summer, their 8-year-old son, Philip, doesn't come home from judo lessons, sending the family into an unsuccessful frenzy to find him before leaving the country. Four decades later, Laura, the youngest Preston sibling, is a successful artist living in D.C., close to her domineering older sister and aging mother, her life filled by the continuing series of work she's producing and the routine of her long-term relationship. But when she receives an email from someone claiming to have found her brother, Laura upends her life to go to Thailand to see if the man who resembles her father is who he says he is—and what happened to him all those years ago. Bouncing between modern-day D.C. and 1970s Bangkok, the novel is grounded in its deeply realized characters and the relationships among them, but the author layers in a consideration of power dynamics, racism, and privilege in a way that adds an undercurrent of realism and ugliness, particularly regarding the way the Prestons lived in the '70s. At the same time, the book is a gripping mystery that subtly ratchets up the tension with each chapter.

What Could Be Saved Book Review

What Could Be Saved is difficult to read at times. While it’s not a happy book, it does contain happiness. Schwarz transports the reader to 1970s Bangkok—illuminating the stark contrast between the privileged Americans and their Thai servants amid the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

I was so impressed with how well this novel is written. Schwarz has chosen her words carefully, making each one count. Even though it alternates between time periods and points of view, I was never confused. Each character felt necessary and vital to the story. And what a story! It’s gut-wrenching at times, utterly devastating. But amid the devastation is hope and the enduring love of siblings.

Our guiding character is Laura, the youngest Preston sibling, and an artist. The disappearance of her older brother Philip when they were children in Bangkok has defined every aspect of the rest of Laura’s life. When she is contacted and told he may have been found, her life is upended once again. The reader is taken back to 1972 when the Preston family relocated to Bangkok for what they were told would be a year. It turned into four-plus years.

"Making art had once felt exhilarating and terrifying, like combustion or freefall, like peeling herself open. It had felt dangerous and important. Had youth been the necessary ingredient there, or naiveté?" Liese O’Halloran Schwarz, What Could Be Saved

Secrets abound in the Preston family—building, growing, and snowballing throughout their lives. The reader is privy to secrets the children are unaware of, as well as being enlightened to some secrets along with the characters. This technique kept me turning pages and fully immersed until the end. While several of the characters are unlikable, Schwarz still makes them human—forcing the reader to acknowledge their good qualities along with their flaws.

“Life was a sucking cornucopia of loss, everyone teetering on its edge all the time, all the precious things at risk every moment. Childhoods and pink pigs and best friends, lovers and brothers and parents and children, whole lives and histories perpetually rushing into the ravenous funnel of oblivion. It wasn’t possible to cherish them enough before they were taken away.” Liese O’Halloran Schwarz, What Could Be Saved

Go into this one prepared to step back in time and have your heart broken over a lost boy and the steadfast love of sisters.