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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
This review contains spoilers.
Three and a half stars.
Searching for Sky was a completely different book from anything I'd ever read before. Life on 'Island' was so differently. And the most different and strange thing of all was seeing our world through the eyes of someone who has never experienced it.
It was really interesting how the story built and built up, giving the at first everything-in-sight Island new meaning. How Helmut was not what he seemed, and even Sky's mom was not as she appeared on the surface. And River. River, the innocent, feeding poison apples to an unknowing crowd.
Which brings me to the cult thing. It kind of put me off because cults scare me. It scares me that people do bad things like killing people, or making them kill themselves and justifying it. (You could argue that most religions used to be like that a long time ago, but it seems different to me now because that isn't socially acceptable anymore. And I'm glad. I guess it's all in how you look at it.) And how it's all such a secret and how the leaders scare the participants into doing what they say. That is the worst part.
So Helmut being the leader of a cult made me think that Island was an extension of that cult. Which it was. Just think about it. All the rules. Those mushrooms. Scaaaaary. So Island , the sanctuary, is scary now.
But Sky still wants to go back with River. I can't really understand why she wants to do this, just because I'm used to my life. But really, if someone ripped me away from my life and told me that everything I know is a lie, then I would probably want to go back to the way it was before. So I can empathize, but not understand. Because, if I had my same personality, then after I got this information that the people around me were cultists, then I don't think I would want to go back. But I don't know.
River is shunned because of his father. Because people can't seem to grasp that he's different. I understand that. People have many good reasons to believe that River is bad. He was raised by Helmut, right? But they don't know him. So take a lesson from Nick Carraway and reserve judgements.
Another thing this book touches on is how terrible gun violence is. It is so terrible. Just don't shoot. Don't! It KILLS people!
What happened to River was sad. Only the ending wasn't executed well enough, I'm sad to say. But the circles thing was kind of sweet. So, read this if you want.
Three and a half stars.
Searching for Sky was a completely different book from anything I'd ever read before. Life on 'Island' was so differently. And the most different and strange thing of all was seeing our world through the eyes of someone who has never experienced it.
It was really interesting how the story built and built up, giving the at first everything-in-sight Island new meaning. How Helmut was not what he seemed, and even Sky's mom was not as she appeared on the surface. And River. River, the innocent, feeding poison apples to an unknowing crowd.
Which brings me to the cult thing. It kind of put me off because cults scare me. It scares me that people do bad things like killing people, or making them kill themselves and justifying it. (You could argue that most religions used to be like that a long time ago, but it seems different to me now because that isn't socially acceptable anymore. And I'm glad. I guess it's all in how you look at it.) And how it's all such a secret and how the leaders scare the participants into doing what they say. That is the worst part.
So Helmut being the leader of a cult made me think that Island was an extension of that cult. Which it was. Just think about it. All the rules. Those mushrooms. Scaaaaary. So Island , the sanctuary, is scary now.
But Sky still wants to go back with River. I can't really understand why she wants to do this, just because I'm used to my life. But really, if someone ripped me away from my life and told me that everything I know is a lie, then I would probably want to go back to the way it was before. So I can empathize, but not understand. Because, if I had my same personality, then after I got this information that the people around me were cultists, then I don't think I would want to go back. But I don't know.
River is shunned because of his father. Because people can't seem to grasp that he's different. I understand that. People have many good reasons to believe that River is bad. He was raised by Helmut, right? But they don't know him. So take a lesson from Nick Carraway and reserve judgements.
Another thing this book touches on is how terrible gun violence is. It is so terrible. Just don't shoot. Don't! It KILLS people!
What happened to River was sad. Only the ending wasn't executed well enough, I'm sad to say. But the circles thing was kind of sweet. So, read this if you want.
FIRST THOUGHTS:
3.75 stars. Man, this was a tough story to read. I did think it flowed well, and that it felt organic to see how everything works out for Sky and River. There was a touch of drama at the end that threw me off just the littlest bit.
REVIEW:
Searching for Sky was certainly a surprise. It is very moving, my heart going out to Sky as she struggles to make sense of her reality. It is also really unique, as it happens to be different from any story I’ve read before. There was drama, unsurprisingly, an amount that really toed the line between acceptable and over the top. In the end, I really wound up liking it.
Honestly, the biggest draw of this book has everything to do with Sky. She still feels like a stranger on some level, particularly because she’s unsure about what she likes, doesn’t like and so on. But I found her struggle to adapt to a new reality (“our” world) after being made to leave the reality she’s known all her life on the Island incredibly easy to relate to. Being put in a new situation is never easy, and Sky has it harder than any of us. The things that we might take for granted – clothing, bathrooms, beds, food, television, houses, and so on – are things she’s never known of. So she doesn’t really understand how or why or what they really are to her. It made me appreciate what I had, but it also made my heart break for her.
There’s also the relationships she had and has – with her mom, with River, with River’s father, with her grandmother, with Ben. Her relationships actually become the most defining part of her life, aside from her individual struggle. Most of these relationships were fraught with complications, issues of trust and love and loyalty. The most natural of all her ties was to River, a companionship and trust born of being the only two people of an age together on the Island. Their shared history and adventures gave them a special bond, and it broke my heart when they were separated.
Really, Searching for Sky is a simple story with threads of emotional complexity woven into it. Every single thing that occurs felt organic, felt right in the face of all Sky is going through. One thing that did catch me off guard? The explanation for why they were on Island in the first place. It was definitely out of left field for me, but it did wind up feeling like a proper rationale.
Though I did find the ending a touch too dramatic, I still appreciated the entirety of Searching for Sky. It’s definitely not your usual contemporary read! While it’s definitely sadder than other reads, I’d still say it’s worth a try if you’re itching to read something a bit different from the usual.
{If you liked this review, check out Alexa Loves Books for more!}
3.75 stars. Man, this was a tough story to read. I did think it flowed well, and that it felt organic to see how everything works out for Sky and River. There was a touch of drama at the end that threw me off just the littlest bit.
REVIEW:
Searching for Sky was certainly a surprise. It is very moving, my heart going out to Sky as she struggles to make sense of her reality. It is also really unique, as it happens to be different from any story I’ve read before. There was drama, unsurprisingly, an amount that really toed the line between acceptable and over the top. In the end, I really wound up liking it.
Honestly, the biggest draw of this book has everything to do with Sky. She still feels like a stranger on some level, particularly because she’s unsure about what she likes, doesn’t like and so on. But I found her struggle to adapt to a new reality (“our” world) after being made to leave the reality she’s known all her life on the Island incredibly easy to relate to. Being put in a new situation is never easy, and Sky has it harder than any of us. The things that we might take for granted – clothing, bathrooms, beds, food, television, houses, and so on – are things she’s never known of. So she doesn’t really understand how or why or what they really are to her. It made me appreciate what I had, but it also made my heart break for her.
There’s also the relationships she had and has – with her mom, with River, with River’s father, with her grandmother, with Ben. Her relationships actually become the most defining part of her life, aside from her individual struggle. Most of these relationships were fraught with complications, issues of trust and love and loyalty. The most natural of all her ties was to River, a companionship and trust born of being the only two people of an age together on the Island. Their shared history and adventures gave them a special bond, and it broke my heart when they were separated.
Really, Searching for Sky is a simple story with threads of emotional complexity woven into it. Every single thing that occurs felt organic, felt right in the face of all Sky is going through. One thing that did catch me off guard? The explanation for why they were on Island in the first place. It was definitely out of left field for me, but it did wind up feeling like a proper rationale.
Though I did find the ending a touch too dramatic, I still appreciated the entirety of Searching for Sky. It’s definitely not your usual contemporary read! While it’s definitely sadder than other reads, I’d still say it’s worth a try if you’re itching to read something a bit different from the usual.
{If you liked this review, check out Alexa Loves Books for more!}
As reviewed on Pretty Little Memoirs. With thanks to Bloomsbury Childrens for the ARC.
*Contains minor references to the plot*
Sky and River have lived on Island for as long as they can remember, and it's the only place that each of them can call home. They call it "Island", where they have adapted to their limited resources not knowing any different, like "Bathroom Tree", "Falls" and "Ocean", everything had a certain name for them. They live there alone after Sky's Mother and River's Father were found dead, and had to survive by themselves, only counting on each other.
River sees a boat one day when he's catching fish for him and Sky, but they aren't certain what a boat even is. They soon find that the people on the boat arrive at the Island to take them home - even though Sky has no idea where that place even is - to a place called California. There, things are very different. Sky is separated from River and meets her grandmother who immediately tries to connect her to a new way of living by getting a team of experts to teach her everything someone of her teenage-age should know and do.
Being set in Sky's POV, nothing was limited at all by not being able to get inside her head and emotions. I instantly connected with her, through sympathy and compassion for her confusion and brand new eyes at California, a place she didn't even know existed. Things in the real world are painstakingly difficult to grasp and day after day, Sky - who's been told that her name isn't even her own - feels lost by association in her new life. All she knows is Island, and even though she tries and learns new things every day, she just wants to be reunited with River.
It was tragic what happened in Sky's life, and as she learns the startling new information about where she came from, who her Mother and River's Father; Helmut, really were, Sky can't help but try and grip the good memories tighter. All she knew was that with the help of her grandmother's neighbour; Ben, she needed to find River. She had to go back to Island.
Searching For Sky really made me feel for the characters, in a way that I could picture Sky vividly in this world that felt so dystopian to her. I felt so bad for River, and although selfish at times, I felt remorse for Sky's grandmother who so desperately just wanted for her to feel at home. After all, she had lost two people she loved and never thought she would see again.
Overall, Searching For Sky is a book filled with the qualities in a book I love; an impeccable plot, an ending to make you tear up, characters I empathized and a story that won't leave my mind.
Searching for Sky definitely made my favourites list for this year - an exceptional and impressive five-star novel.
As reviewed on Pretty Little Memoirs. With thanks to Bloomsbury Childrens for the ARC.
*Contains minor references to the plot*
Sky and River have lived on Island for as long as they can remember, and it's the only place that each of them can call home. They call it "Island", where they have adapted to their limited resources not knowing any different, like "Bathroom Tree", "Falls" and "Ocean", everything had a certain name for them. They live there alone after Sky's Mother and River's Father were found dead, and had to survive by themselves, only counting on each other.
River sees a boat one day when he's catching fish for him and Sky, but they aren't certain what a boat even is. They soon find that the people on the boat arrive at the Island to take them home - even though Sky has no idea where that place even is - to a place called California. There, things are very different. Sky is separated from River and meets her grandmother who immediately tries to connect her to a new way of living by getting a team of experts to teach her everything someone of her teenage-age should know and do.
Being set in Sky's POV, nothing was limited at all by not being able to get inside her head and emotions. I instantly connected with her, through sympathy and compassion for her confusion and brand new eyes at California, a place she didn't even know existed. Things in the real world are painstakingly difficult to grasp and day after day, Sky - who's been told that her name isn't even her own - feels lost by association in her new life. All she knows is Island, and even though she tries and learns new things every day, she just wants to be reunited with River.
It was tragic what happened in Sky's life, and as she learns the startling new information about where she came from, who her Mother and River's Father; Helmut, really were, Sky can't help but try and grip the good memories tighter. All she knew was that with the help of her grandmother's neighbour; Ben, she needed to find River. She had to go back to Island.
Searching For Sky really made me feel for the characters, in a way that I could picture Sky vividly in this world that felt so dystopian to her. I felt so bad for River, and although selfish at times, I felt remorse for Sky's grandmother who so desperately just wanted for her to feel at home. After all, she had lost two people she loved and never thought she would see again.
Overall, Searching For Sky is a book filled with the qualities in a book I love; an impeccable plot, an ending to make you tear up, characters I empathized and a story that won't leave my mind.
Searching for Sky definitely made my favourites list for this year - an exceptional and impressive five-star novel.
As reviewed on Pretty Little Memoirs. With thanks to Bloomsbury Childrens for the ARC.
Have you ever read a book that you loved so much that you kept on thinking about it even weeks after you're done reading it? Well, that was what I felt. Although I felt that it was a little slow-paced in the beginning, I felt that it was necessary for the book.
Sky has been living on an isolated island for 14 years. The only people that were there was a man named Helmut, his son River, and Sky's mom. The four of them learned how to live there, but something terrible occurred: Sky's mom and Helmut died.To be honest, I think that they knew they were dying, and that's why Sky's mom called Sky Megan. One day they find a boat with two men on it. She was reluctant to leave the island, but River persuaded her into leaving knowing they couldn't survive if they stayed there.
Sky: She was a beautiful character, and she's grown so much in the book. I felt all the pain she felt when reading, the loneliness, confusion, and worst of all: struggling to fit in.
Alice: I wanted to slap some sense into that woman. Her granddaughter just moved back here and you expect her to know everything? I did feel bad for her though, she just didn't want to lose Sky again. I was angry because I felt that Alice was trying to make Sky into someone she's not: her mother.
River: Poor, poor River. He was so sweet and naive. "Always the dreamer." Everyone (well, almost everyone) treated him as though he was like his father: a murderer. I just loved River so much, maybe even more than I loved Sky. It was so sad whenhe died
Ben: He was a nice guy, I wished I got to know more about him though.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It was heartbreakingly beautiful.
review to come.
Sky has been living on an isolated island for 14 years. The only people that were there was a man named Helmut, his son River, and Sky's mom. The four of them learned how to live there, but something terrible occurred: Sky's mom and Helmut died.
Sky: She was a beautiful character, and she's grown so much in the book. I felt all the pain she felt when reading, the loneliness, confusion, and worst of all: struggling to fit in.
Alice: I wanted to slap some sense into that woman. Her granddaughter just moved back here and you expect her to know everything? I did feel bad for her though, she just didn't want to lose Sky again. I was angry because I felt that Alice was trying to make Sky into someone she's not: her mother.
River: Poor, poor River. He was so sweet and naive. "Always the dreamer." Everyone (well, almost everyone) treated him as though he was like his father: a murderer. I just loved River so much, maybe even more than I loved Sky. It was so sad when
Ben: He was a nice guy, I wished I got to know more about him though.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It was heartbreakingly beautiful.
review to come.
Originally posted here
This book first came on my radar when I heard Jillian talk last year at my local bookstore. Jillian is a local author, well as local as one can be from Phoenix to Tucson, and along with becoming friends at that event, I heard her talk about her upcoming YA novel: Searching For Sky. To say I was hooked was an understatement. Then, my friend Erica, told me about it. Told me it was reverse dystopian, which made no true sense to me, but I was still intrigued. When I started the book, I got it. I got the reverse dystopian.
Sky has lived on Island her whole life. There is the Ocean and Toilet Tree and her friend and fellow member of Island, River. They are living a happy life on Island, partly because it is all Sky knows. One day of course that all changes, they are found and rescued. The important thing is though, that Sky doesn’t want to be rescued, she enjoys her life for what it is. She quickly discovers that being rescued really is the worst. She is taken to a place called California and finds out that she has a grandmother, River isn’t what he seems, and her life on the island really isn’t what it seems.
Sky struggles, a lot, throughout the whole book. While biologically she is a teenager, mentally she is not even close. Her grandmother brings in people to assist her, from psychologists, teachers, a teenage boy to be a friend, and it takes awhile but slowly Sky starts to adapt. Very slowly, Cantor never forces Sky into situations which wouldn’t fit the character. There are painful moments where you want to hug Sky, because while toilets, pencils and cars are completely normal to us, Sky is out of her element and it’s painful for her. She wants to go home. To her real home. The island.
Sky isn’t allowed to talk to River and Sky slowly finds out things about her mother and Helmut, the other two that were on the island (they died before the novel began) that hurt Sky. Sky is convinced if River and her could just go back to the Island everything will be okay. We, as the reader, know that life is not that easy. No matter how easy Sky believes it is.
Cantor made me a believer of not only Sky, and Southern California, but also “Reverse Dystopian.” I am here for it. All of it.
This book first came on my radar when I heard Jillian talk last year at my local bookstore. Jillian is a local author, well as local as one can be from Phoenix to Tucson, and along with becoming friends at that event, I heard her talk about her upcoming YA novel: Searching For Sky. To say I was hooked was an understatement. Then, my friend Erica, told me about it. Told me it was reverse dystopian, which made no true sense to me, but I was still intrigued. When I started the book, I got it. I got the reverse dystopian.
Sky has lived on Island her whole life. There is the Ocean and Toilet Tree and her friend and fellow member of Island, River. They are living a happy life on Island, partly because it is all Sky knows. One day of course that all changes, they are found and rescued. The important thing is though, that Sky doesn’t want to be rescued, she enjoys her life for what it is. She quickly discovers that being rescued really is the worst. She is taken to a place called California and finds out that she has a grandmother, River isn’t what he seems, and her life on the island really isn’t what it seems.
Sky struggles, a lot, throughout the whole book. While biologically she is a teenager, mentally she is not even close. Her grandmother brings in people to assist her, from psychologists, teachers, a teenage boy to be a friend, and it takes awhile but slowly Sky starts to adapt. Very slowly, Cantor never forces Sky into situations which wouldn’t fit the character. There are painful moments where you want to hug Sky, because while toilets, pencils and cars are completely normal to us, Sky is out of her element and it’s painful for her. She wants to go home. To her real home. The island.
Sky isn’t allowed to talk to River and Sky slowly finds out things about her mother and Helmut, the other two that were on the island (they died before the novel began) that hurt Sky. Sky is convinced if River and her could just go back to the Island everything will be okay. We, as the reader, know that life is not that easy. No matter how easy Sky believes it is.
Cantor made me a believer of not only Sky, and Southern California, but also “Reverse Dystopian.” I am here for it. All of it.