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timelordmom's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not too picky of a reader but this book felt weak. The concept was great, the execution was less than stellar. Mostly, character development was greatly lacking.
megantheeflamingo's review against another edition
3.0
I felt like an idiot not realizing that Kai was the dead guy. And I was still confused. This girl was stupid and it took me a long time to finish this book because I hated it so much.
maggiemaggio's review against another edition
4.0
4.25 stars
When I finished this book I immediately wanted to go back and read it again. I didn’t love the beginning, but I loved the middle and end so much; what did I miss at the beginning? Were there clues throughout the book that I missed that would have helped me figure out the big reveal at the end? But mostly I just didn’t want to step away from this story, which I enjoyed so much.
The beginning was hard for me. We meet Ember, who’s about to be released from the rehabilitation hospital she’s been living in since her terrible car accident eight months before. Although I wanted to like Ember, having been seriously injured and missing a six weeks of memories, she’s certainly a sympathetic character, the connection just wasn’t there. And I wanted to feel something towards Ember’s family and friends, but mostly I was annoyed and confused about why they were keeping her in the dark about her lost memories (a feeling that never quite faded, but I got over the more involved I got in Ember and the story).
My biggest fear going into reading this book was that there would be something nefarious at play here. And, luckily, there just wasn’t. The accident and the aftermath are tragic, absolutely, but it’s a normal, heart-breaking, relatable type of tragedy rather than something completely out there. In the end I think that makes it even more terrible.
Once Ember is returned to her life she searches for clues of who she was before and how the accident came to happen. This is where I really grew to like Ember. I felt so terrible for her, and I really felt her struggle. I think the fact that I was in the same position as Ember, trying to figure out the six weeks she lost, made it even easier to connect to her. In Ember’s searching she meets Kai, a mysterious boy who seems to just immediately get her in a way that no one else does. Ember is frustrated by Kai’s busy schedule and lack of availability to her, but she keeps pursuing him even though her mysterious absences and changing personality upset her family and friends.
To me it was obvious while I was reading that Kai is somehow tied into Ember’s past, somewhere in the memories that she’s lost. As I got closer and closer to the end I still had no idea who Kai was, how the accident came to be, or how the story was going to end and I absolutely loved that. I’m oddly good at figuring out mysteries and twists in books and I think that often takes away my enjoyment, but that wasn’t the case here. I figured it out about a paragraph before it was revealed and I just burst into tears. It made so much sense, but it was also just so heartbreaking.
Another of my favorite things about this book was the way Brooklyn was portrayed. It drove me nuts that I couldn’t figure out where exactly Ember lived (I’m getting Fort Green?) and some of the subway things confused me (why was she getting on the L at DeKalb?), but otherwise I adored the Brooklyn depicted in this book. I could picture Holden’s house in Brooklyn Heights and the restaurant and park in Carroll Gardens. I’ve done a good job of not missing Brooklyn since I moved (and I was happy to move, I’d wanted to leave for a while), but this book left me physically in pain at how much I wanted those neighborhoods back in my every day life.
Bottom Line: Loud Awake and Lost is easily my favorite YA mystery of 2013. I’ve been searching for a smart, complex, and interesting mystery all year and I’m so happy I managed to find it before the end of the year. Even though I had a difficult time with Ember at first, I grew to really like her and just ache for her. I appreciated that as readers we’re in the same black memory space as Ember and I enjoyed every moment of figuring out what happened to her, even if it did make me shed quite a few tears in the end.
This review first appeared on my blog.
When I finished this book I immediately wanted to go back and read it again. I didn’t love the beginning, but I loved the middle and end so much; what did I miss at the beginning? Were there clues throughout the book that I missed that would have helped me figure out the big reveal at the end? But mostly I just didn’t want to step away from this story, which I enjoyed so much.
The beginning was hard for me. We meet Ember, who’s about to be released from the rehabilitation hospital she’s been living in since her terrible car accident eight months before. Although I wanted to like Ember, having been seriously injured and missing a six weeks of memories, she’s certainly a sympathetic character, the connection just wasn’t there. And I wanted to feel something towards Ember’s family and friends, but mostly I was annoyed and confused about why they were keeping her in the dark about her lost memories (a feeling that never quite faded, but I got over the more involved I got in Ember and the story).
My biggest fear going into reading this book was that there would be something nefarious at play here. And, luckily, there just wasn’t. The accident and the aftermath are tragic, absolutely, but it’s a normal, heart-breaking, relatable type of tragedy rather than something completely out there. In the end I think that makes it even more terrible.
Once Ember is returned to her life she searches for clues of who she was before and how the accident came to happen. This is where I really grew to like Ember. I felt so terrible for her, and I really felt her struggle. I think the fact that I was in the same position as Ember, trying to figure out the six weeks she lost, made it even easier to connect to her. In Ember’s searching she meets Kai, a mysterious boy who seems to just immediately get her in a way that no one else does. Ember is frustrated by Kai’s busy schedule and lack of availability to her, but she keeps pursuing him even though her mysterious absences and changing personality upset her family and friends.
To me it was obvious while I was reading that Kai is somehow tied into Ember’s past, somewhere in the memories that she’s lost. As I got closer and closer to the end I still had no idea who Kai was, how the accident came to be, or how the story was going to end and I absolutely loved that. I’m oddly good at figuring out mysteries and twists in books and I think that often takes away my enjoyment, but that wasn’t the case here. I figured it out about a paragraph before it was revealed and I just burst into tears. It made so much sense, but it was also just so heartbreaking.
Another of my favorite things about this book was the way Brooklyn was portrayed. It drove me nuts that I couldn’t figure out where exactly Ember lived (I’m getting Fort Green?) and some of the subway things confused me (why was she getting on the L at DeKalb?), but otherwise I adored the Brooklyn depicted in this book. I could picture Holden’s house in Brooklyn Heights and the restaurant and park in Carroll Gardens. I’ve done a good job of not missing Brooklyn since I moved (and I was happy to move, I’d wanted to leave for a while), but this book left me physically in pain at how much I wanted those neighborhoods back in my every day life.
Bottom Line: Loud Awake and Lost is easily my favorite YA mystery of 2013. I’ve been searching for a smart, complex, and interesting mystery all year and I’m so happy I managed to find it before the end of the year. Even though I had a difficult time with Ember at first, I grew to really like her and just ache for her. I appreciated that as readers we’re in the same black memory space as Ember and I enjoyed every moment of figuring out what happened to her, even if it did make me shed quite a few tears in the end.
This review first appeared on my blog.
rennegade's review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of this book from the Goodreads Giveaway program to read and review.
I really enjoyed this book! I wasn't sure at first, especially since it seemed to be headed towards my dreaded love triangle, but the book ended up being really lovely. It was nice to have a bit of a mystery that was naturally solved over the course of the novel.
Normally I am good at spotting plot twists, but this one actually caught me by surprise (I blame being off balance due to a terrible ear infection). The reveal of the twist and the falling action that followed was interesting to me, and I felt that the ending resolved things nicely without the annoying habit of perfectly tying up every single loose thread. It was nice to be left thinking what could be next for Ember and wondering how the relationships with the people in her life would continue to develop over the years.
This was the first book by Adele Griffin that I have read, but I liked it enough that I want to check out her other work.
I really enjoyed this book! I wasn't sure at first, especially since it seemed to be headed towards my dreaded love triangle, but the book ended up being really lovely. It was nice to have a bit of a mystery that was naturally solved over the course of the novel.
Normally I am good at spotting plot twists, but this one actually caught me by surprise (I blame being off balance due to a terrible ear infection). The reveal of the twist and the falling action that followed was interesting to me, and I felt that the ending resolved things nicely without the annoying habit of perfectly tying up every single loose thread. It was nice to be left thinking what could be next for Ember and wondering how the relationships with the people in her life would continue to develop over the years.
This was the first book by Adele Griffin that I have read, but I liked it enough that I want to check out her other work.
silea's review against another edition
2.0
The 'big twist' is pretty obvious less than halfway through the book, and from then on it's just teen drama with a lot of really implausible situations to prolong the 'mystery'. It's like a sitcom, where there's some simple misunderstanding, but no one ever says or does the obvious thing that would clear everything up.
laurelinwonder's review against another edition
3.0
This book was just okay. YA readers would probably love it, it's pretty straightforward, and decently written. It just didn't have anything to keep me interested, it pulled the expected punches, and didn't give me the resolution I was hoping for.
emjrasmussen's review against another edition
Amnesic characters abound in young adult fiction, clustering in a mass almost large enough to create an entire sub-genre: memory loss books. As much as this ploy captivates me, it is no secret that scattered memories are growing more and more common, and therefore authors must work harder and harder to make their tales unique. Some do not succeed in separating their stories from others, but with her newest novel, Adele Griffin excels in the art of individuality. Loud Awake and Lost is a precisely worded equation, developed to transform small doses of memory loss into an effective plot.
Griffin first minimizes her amnesia input by only stealing six weeks from her protagonist. This block of time initially seems small enough that Ember can slide back into her old life, but these six weeks were heavy with life-changing events. Ember quickly discovers that she changed as a person in the last days before her accident and spends the rest of the book uncovering who and what brought about the lost side of her personality, dividing her characterization into three contrasting sections. Readers see who the main character is now and hear hints about the two earlier versions of herself, which creates a split personality that gives Ember's voice an unreliable tone. Griffin could not have created this contradictory character development without such a short block of blank time.
The author also cuts back on the memory loss ploy by shaving away excess flashbacks. Stingy with details, she shares bits of Ember's past in sentence-long snippets rather than page-long breaks into the character's history, keeping readers waiting on their toes for the next reveal. Griffin only unveils information when the protagonist earns it, either by outright asking or engaging in a memory-triggering experience, which forces readers to cheer for Ember as she pieces together and accepts her past. Loud Awake and Lost does not take the easy way out when it comes to disclosing its protagonist's history, and as a result, the story flourishes with suspense and character development.
Each of these elements travels on its own through the literary function Griffin writes, but they combine to form the greatest output of all. When Ember's uncertainty about who she is blends with her struggle to find out, there is plenty left to the unknown and an equal number of opportunities for plot twists. Loud Awake and Lost pops with little surprises until the end, when one final discovery blows the rest of the story to bits. I somehow did not predict the conclusion, but after reading the book's final page, I felt compelled to reread each moment that I retrospectively recognized as a subtle clue, just to appreciate Griffin's smooth foreshadowing.
Loud Awake and Lost further proves a point that the author's previous books already made: Adele Griffin has mastered her grip on the mind and can manipulate a character's consciousness into an addictive psychological thriller. Her style is unlike any other mystery author's, and I am now a devoted fan of her rich, electrifying writing.
This review originally appeared at www.foreverliterary.blogspot.com.
Griffin first minimizes her amnesia input by only stealing six weeks from her protagonist. This block of time initially seems small enough that Ember can slide back into her old life, but these six weeks were heavy with life-changing events. Ember quickly discovers that she changed as a person in the last days before her accident and spends the rest of the book uncovering who and what brought about the lost side of her personality, dividing her characterization into three contrasting sections. Readers see who the main character is now and hear hints about the two earlier versions of herself, which creates a split personality that gives Ember's voice an unreliable tone. Griffin could not have created this contradictory character development without such a short block of blank time.
The author also cuts back on the memory loss ploy by shaving away excess flashbacks. Stingy with details, she shares bits of Ember's past in sentence-long snippets rather than page-long breaks into the character's history, keeping readers waiting on their toes for the next reveal. Griffin only unveils information when the protagonist earns it, either by outright asking or engaging in a memory-triggering experience, which forces readers to cheer for Ember as she pieces together and accepts her past. Loud Awake and Lost does not take the easy way out when it comes to disclosing its protagonist's history, and as a result, the story flourishes with suspense and character development.
Each of these elements travels on its own through the literary function Griffin writes, but they combine to form the greatest output of all. When Ember's uncertainty about who she is blends with her struggle to find out, there is plenty left to the unknown and an equal number of opportunities for plot twists. Loud Awake and Lost pops with little surprises until the end, when one final discovery blows the rest of the story to bits. I somehow did not predict the conclusion, but after reading the book's final page, I felt compelled to reread each moment that I retrospectively recognized as a subtle clue, just to appreciate Griffin's smooth foreshadowing.
Loud Awake and Lost further proves a point that the author's previous books already made: Adele Griffin has mastered her grip on the mind and can manipulate a character's consciousness into an addictive psychological thriller. Her style is unlike any other mystery author's, and I am now a devoted fan of her rich, electrifying writing.
This review originally appeared at www.foreverliterary.blogspot.com.
jessicaz's review against another edition
3.0
About halfway through this book I was pretty sure I was going to hate it, but the end really redeemed it for me. It was a love story, but was even more a "what sort of person am I?" story, which makes it a very relatable one..
thatjamiea's review against another edition
3.0
More of a 3.5, but I guess I'm not feeling generous.
Ember is seventeen and a senior at a hoity toity NYC high school. She has an awesome best friend and a a super great guy who is probably in love with her. But, in February of her junior year Ember drives her car off a bridge in a snow storm. She nearly dies and in the process her passenger, a mystery to Ember, dies.
Ember has buried her memories of this person and the person she was. After eight months of intensive rehab she returns home to piece together who she was, who she will be and who the mystery man was.
I liked the premise of this story, but even though the book wasn't very long, I felt like the story was drawn out in some ways, and I got frustrated waiting for Ember to figure it out.
Ember is seventeen and a senior at a hoity toity NYC high school. She has an awesome best friend and a a super great guy who is probably in love with her. But, in February of her junior year Ember drives her car off a bridge in a snow storm. She nearly dies and in the process her passenger, a mystery to Ember, dies.
Ember has buried her memories of this person and the person she was. After eight months of intensive rehab she returns home to piece together who she was, who she will be and who the mystery man was.
I liked the premise of this story, but even though the book wasn't very long, I felt like the story was drawn out in some ways, and I got frustrated waiting for Ember to figure it out.