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bibliomich's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
It's been a long, long time since I gave a book a two-star rating. I want to establish this before writing my review, because I want everyone reading this to understand that I don't assign ratings this low very often (or without a lot of thought before doing so).
Generally when I give a book a low rating, I say that the book just "wasn't for me." But this book...I genuinely regret bringing this book to my students' attention (prior to reading it). There are *so many* better books that I think students would benefit from reading. This book wasn't for me. But I don't really want to give this book to anyone, especially children.
What I found frustrating (where do I even begin):
- Content warning: unnecessary, graphic animal abuse. This added nothing to the story and was gratuitous and upsetting, particularly in a book meant for middle grade readers.
- The ending. Towards the end of the book, the narrator reflects on her frustrations with fiction. She explains, "I'm losing patience with fiction. / The challenges and triumphs of / fictional characters only make me / feel worse about myself. / Novels end nicely and neatly / with all obstacles overcome. / Loose ends tied up." AND THEN THIS AUTHOR DOES EXACTLY THAT. And she does it in the span of a few pages. The resolution is so outrageously anticlimactic and tied up SO neatly. I don't even know what to say.
- The protagonist. I found the protagonist (and narrator) to be fairly unlikeable, and not in the fun "unlikeable protagonist" way where they experience growth over the course of the book. We see so little growth in Maddie throughout this book, and considering the book is 401 pages that basically follow this one character, that's shocking.
- The pacing. The pacing was all over the place. The author skips huge chunks of time, but doesn't really bother to explain how anything has changed in those several months that she skips. Sometimes there will be long, boring stretches of nothingness, followed by a random, extremely "tense" event that the protagonist has to survive. The ups and downs of the pacing made these events feel totally unrealistic, like they were thrown in specifically to give the protagonist an obstacle to overcome.
- Lack of research? This book seemed to suffer from a lack of research. I really wish the author had researched, at the very least, the effects of isolation on mental health and allowed that to inform her writing. Simply saying repeatedly that the protagonist is "lonely" doesn't help the reader feel that loneliness.
- Some questionable word choices. At the beginning of the book, Maddie introduces her younger siblings and explains, "Plus the fact that James [her little brother] is deaf / makes me feel awkward. / Even after all this time. / I know it's not cool / to say that, but there it is. / I said it anyway." Umm...what? So the author is choosing to include this example of casual ableism that she then never returns to?? She never reflects on this, never grows from it. The fact that the author chose to include this detail and Maddie's ableist discomfort (for no apparent reason at all) is so icky to me.
- Oh, and another questionable word choice. So at no point in the book does Maddie know what the "threat" to her safety actually is. Towards the end of the book, she makes an assumption (based on absolutely no previously established information): "If [these helicopters] aren't looters / this could mean rescue. / This could be the chance / I've been waiting for / all these lonely months / and years. / But they could also be invaders / from another country. / The imminent threat? / Maybe they are the reason for the whole evacuation / in the first place." The implicit xenophobia in this stanza--the fact that the narrator automatically assumes that a threat is coming "from another country" is, once again, a seriously unfortunate choice on the part of the author. Had she taken the time to establish what the threat was, or given some reason for Maddie to believe that it was a foreign threat, then...okay, I guess? But the fact that she jumps straight to that conclusion is irritating.
I'm sure I could say more things, but I'm tired of ranting. After writing all of this, I kind of want to knock another star off my rating, but I finished the book, so I guess it gets two stars for that?
Generally when I give a book a low rating, I say that the book just "wasn't for me." But this book...I genuinely regret bringing this book to my students' attention (prior to reading it). There are *so many* better books that I think students would benefit from reading. This book wasn't for me. But I don't really want to give this book to anyone, especially children.
What I found frustrating (where do I even begin):
- Content warning: unnecessary, graphic animal abuse. This added nothing to the story and was gratuitous and upsetting, particularly in a book meant for middle grade readers.
- The ending. Towards the end of the book, the narrator reflects on her frustrations with fiction. She explains, "I'm losing patience with fiction. / The challenges and triumphs of / fictional characters only make me / feel worse about myself. / Novels end nicely and neatly / with all obstacles overcome. / Loose ends tied up." AND THEN THIS AUTHOR DOES EXACTLY THAT. And she does it in the span of a few pages. The resolution is so outrageously anticlimactic and tied up SO neatly. I don't even know what to say.
- The protagonist. I found the protagonist (and narrator) to be fairly unlikeable, and not in the fun "unlikeable protagonist" way where they experience growth over the course of the book. We see so little growth in Maddie throughout this book, and considering the book is 401 pages that basically follow this one character, that's shocking.
- The pacing. The pacing was all over the place. The author skips huge chunks of time, but doesn't really bother to explain how anything has changed in those several months that she skips. Sometimes there will be long, boring stretches of nothingness, followed by a random, extremely "tense" event that the protagonist has to survive. The ups and downs of the pacing made these events feel totally unrealistic, like they were thrown in specifically to give the protagonist an obstacle to overcome.
- Lack of research? This book seemed to suffer from a lack of research. I really wish the author had researched, at the very least, the effects of isolation on mental health and allowed that to inform her writing. Simply saying repeatedly that the protagonist is "lonely" doesn't help the reader feel that loneliness.
- Some questionable word choices. At the beginning of the book, Maddie introduces her younger siblings and explains, "Plus the fact that James [her little brother] is deaf / makes me feel awkward. / Even after all this time. / I know it's not cool / to say that, but there it is. / I said it anyway." Umm...what? So the author is choosing to include this example of casual ableism that she then never returns to?? She never reflects on this, never grows from it. The fact that the author chose to include this detail and Maddie's ableist discomfort (for no apparent reason at all) is so icky to me.
- Oh, and another questionable word choice. So at no point in the book does Maddie know what the "threat" to her safety actually is. Towards the end of the book, she makes an assumption (based on absolutely no previously established information): "If [these helicopters] aren't looters / this could mean rescue. / This could be the chance / I've been waiting for / all these lonely months / and years. / But they could also be invaders / from another country. / The imminent threat? / Maybe they are the reason for the whole evacuation / in the first place." The implicit xenophobia in this stanza--the fact that the narrator automatically assumes that a threat is coming "from another country" is, once again, a seriously unfortunate choice on the part of the author. Had she taken the time to establish what the threat was, or given some reason for Maddie to believe that it was a foreign threat, then...okay, I guess? But the fact that she jumps straight to that conclusion is irritating.
I'm sure I could say more things, but I'm tired of ranting. After writing all of this, I kind of want to knock another star off my rating, but I finished the book, so I guess it gets two stars for that?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, and Xenophobia
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