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library_brandy's review
3.0
I dunno. I think I was supposed to find this far more chilling than I did.
skck09's review
3.0
At first, I wavered on whether or not I wanted to read this book, but I'm glad I did.
Grace is a book set in the dystopian future about a young girl who is traveling on a train to escape the wrath of an evil dictator. She once lived in the Hills, a place untouched by the dictator, Keran Berj, but she was exiled once she failed her task as a suicide bomber. Now Grace is on a train to what she believes is freedom with a boy named Kerr who she just met. Kerr is also trying to find freedom outside of Keran Berj's rule, but his reason why is a secret. Why is Kerr taking to train ride, and will Kerr and Grace set foot on free land?
I really did like the book, but it was one I feel like I could easily forget. It was a really short book, but anything longer would have been boring and too slow for me. The book was also a little tough to follow at some points, but I feel like I understood everything Elizabeth Scott wanted me to. "Grace" only took me two hours to read, so I would definately recommend that you spend the little bit of time and decide what you think about this book for yourself.
Grace is a book set in the dystopian future about a young girl who is traveling on a train to escape the wrath of an evil dictator. She once lived in the Hills, a place untouched by the dictator, Keran Berj, but she was exiled once she failed her task as a suicide bomber. Now Grace is on a train to what she believes is freedom with a boy named Kerr who she just met. Kerr is also trying to find freedom outside of Keran Berj's rule, but his reason why is a secret. Why is Kerr taking to train ride, and will Kerr and Grace set foot on free land?
I really did like the book, but it was one I feel like I could easily forget. It was a really short book, but anything longer would have been boring and too slow for me. The book was also a little tough to follow at some points, but I feel like I understood everything Elizabeth Scott wanted me to. "Grace" only took me two hours to read, so I would definately recommend that you spend the little bit of time and decide what you think about this book for yourself.
icameheretoread's review
2.0
I really did not like this story. I was confused about the setting, the plot, the character's motivation. Honestly, I thought the world building was a lame attempt, and Grace seems to spend most of the book wishing she were more like the person she was trained to be not running to freedom like she actually is. Very confusing, but I stuck with it thinking there would be a big reveal at the end....nope, it just cuts off.
theresidentbookworm's review
5.0
I am a huge Elizabeth Scott fan. I love her chick-lit novels, I really do, but what I really admire are her more serious novels. Living Dead Girl was heartbreaking and eyeopening, and I was better for reading it. Grace was no different.
Grace is a very powerful novel. I don't ever think I've read something so short and so powerful. Grace was an Angel, a suicide bomber to die for the People against a terrible tyrant. For some reason, she cannot go through with it. She tries to escape the restrictive country, knowing she cannot go back home without having completed her mission and also knowing that she has no place in the city either. Instead, she gets fake papers and attempts to take a train to the border to escape. A contact sets her up with a guy who she must pretend is her brother. As they ride the train to the border, Grace learns more she ever thought possible about herself, about her country, and about what life really was meant for.
I have never understood the concept of suicide bombers before this. I never understood why someone would be so willing to blow themselves up to kill someone else. Grace opened my eyes. I really started to understand the true brainwashing these suicide bombers go to. They are taught to believe their purpose in life is to die for a cause. They no longer belong to themselves. I have never been more grateful to live in a country where I don't have to do such a horrible thing. Ultimately, both Grace and Kerr both learn an important lesson: They deserve to life. They deserve life. They should not be ashamed of wanting life, as Kerr said at the end, but something to relish. They, unlike most in their country, knew that life wasn't just about dying.
I highly recommend Grace. It is moving, powerful, and gritty. You will never be able to think about suicide bombers the same way again.
Grace is a very powerful novel. I don't ever think I've read something so short and so powerful. Grace was an Angel, a suicide bomber to die for the People against a terrible tyrant. For some reason, she cannot go through with it. She tries to escape the restrictive country, knowing she cannot go back home without having completed her mission and also knowing that she has no place in the city either. Instead, she gets fake papers and attempts to take a train to the border to escape. A contact sets her up with a guy who she must pretend is her brother. As they ride the train to the border, Grace learns more she ever thought possible about herself, about her country, and about what life really was meant for.
I have never understood the concept of suicide bombers before this. I never understood why someone would be so willing to blow themselves up to kill someone else. Grace opened my eyes. I really started to understand the true brainwashing these suicide bombers go to. They are taught to believe their purpose in life is to die for a cause. They no longer belong to themselves. I have never been more grateful to live in a country where I don't have to do such a horrible thing. Ultimately, both Grace and Kerr both learn an important lesson: They deserve to life. They deserve life. They should not be ashamed of wanting life, as Kerr said at the end, but something to relish. They, unlike most in their country, knew that life wasn't just about dying.
I highly recommend Grace. It is moving, powerful, and gritty. You will never be able to think about suicide bombers the same way again.
becxreadz's review
2.0
Liked:
*The moral of Life is worth living
Disliked:
*No setup to this world. Where is it, when is it, how did it get this way
*The different groups weren't explained well enough. Are the "People" the good guys or the bad? Are the "Angels" and "Rorys" the same group just different tasks? I was so confused..
*The book was to short and nothing was clear.
*The moral of Life is worth living
Disliked:
*No setup to this world. Where is it, when is it, how did it get this way
*The different groups weren't explained well enough. Are the "People" the good guys or the bad? Are the "Angels" and "Rorys" the same group just different tasks? I was so confused..
*The book was to short and nothing was clear.
rosetyper9's review
1.0
I did not like this book because it just made me depressed, I couldn't get into it and I just couldn't finish it. I think it just was more emotional to me because it is about a suicide bomber and I am in the military...and see my brothers and sisters killed by them everyday. I just couldn't do it, my weakness and in no way the fault of the author'w writing. Hope you find a better review elsewhere, here are a couple to try.
kellysreads's review
2.0
Grace is a hard book to review. The extremely spare prose created an atmosphere that was both bleak and menacing, which worked with the ambiguous allusions to a world ruled by violent dictatorship, sexual favours and fear. But as a dystopian, Grace was riddled with plot holes and confusing world-building.
For the first few chapters of Grace, I was completely confused. Told in flashbacks and memories, Grace is not linear by any stretch of the term, and it was only as Grace remembered various things from her childhood, her time as an Angel, or her duties of belonging to Liam, that bits and pieces about her world fell in to place. It took me ages to realize that Grace was not working for Keran Berj as a suicide bomber and that as a multicultured being, she was only kept alive because of her usefulness to the People. So much in Grace is alluded to, instead of being spelt out, that I missed things and they only made sense later when they were alluded to again. While this style of writing can work, paired with such spare prose, it sometimes became incoherent; I found myself eager for details that I knew I wasn’t going to get. But to be completely honest, I could have lived without further details if what I had been given had made any sense.
Unfortunately, paired with the shaky world-building was an abundance of plot holes. Having been brought up as an Angel, one who was raised and trained from a young age to be a suicide bomber, the only experience outside of the Hills that Grace had were the experiences necessary for her training. So how did she know about Chris, a man who worked to get people over the border and away from Keran Berj’s rule? If being multicultural was what allowed Grace to pass as one of Keran Berj’s subjects, why did the People of the Hills, those of a darker complexion, show such disgust for her mixed background? Without her slightly lighter colouring, she would have been spotted as a potential threat right away, and never have been given a chance to get so close to her target. And as part of her training, Grace was responsible for knowing all of Keran Berj’s ever-changing rules. But if she was so knowledgable about his laws, how did she not see the similarities between what he was preaching and what she was learning from the Rorys until Kerr pointed them out to her?
Grace herself fell quite flat for me. She read as being quite detached from her life, which made sense considering her life had never been hers to govern over.
So while Grace was successful at being an atmospheric read, casting me in a shroud of bleak despair while I read, it was unsuccessful at creating the world in which Grace lived and at making me care about Grace or her journey.
For the first few chapters of Grace, I was completely confused. Told in flashbacks and memories, Grace is not linear by any stretch of the term, and it was only as Grace remembered various things from her childhood, her time as an Angel, or her duties of belonging to Liam, that bits and pieces about her world fell in to place. It took me ages to realize that Grace was not working for Keran Berj as a suicide bomber and that as a multicultured being, she was only kept alive because of her usefulness to the People. So much in Grace is alluded to, instead of being spelt out, that I missed things and they only made sense later when they were alluded to again. While this style of writing can work, paired with such spare prose, it sometimes became incoherent; I found myself eager for details that I knew I wasn’t going to get. But to be completely honest, I could have lived without further details if what I had been given had made any sense.
Unfortunately, paired with the shaky world-building was an abundance of plot holes. Having been brought up as an Angel, one who was raised and trained from a young age to be a suicide bomber, the only experience outside of the Hills that Grace had were the experiences necessary for her training. So how did she know about Chris, a man who worked to get people over the border and away from Keran Berj’s rule? If being multicultural was what allowed Grace to pass as one of Keran Berj’s subjects, why did the People of the Hills, those of a darker complexion, show such disgust for her mixed background? Without her slightly lighter colouring, she would have been spotted as a potential threat right away, and never have been given a chance to get so close to her target. And as part of her training, Grace was responsible for knowing all of Keran Berj’s ever-changing rules. But if she was so knowledgable about his laws, how did she not see the similarities between what he was preaching and what she was learning from the Rorys until Kerr pointed them out to her?
Grace herself fell quite flat for me. She read as being quite detached from her life, which made sense considering her life had never been hers to govern over.
I didn’t fear the soldiers like they wanted because my body had never been my own. It was the People’s, always, and briefly belonged to Liam too. I never thought of it as something other than a vessel – an Angel is a messenger and nothing more.But is also made it hard for me to empathize with her or her situation. I was never able to feel her fear or the tension on the train when the soliders were looking at their papers because Grace read almost like an out of body experience at times. Grace was aware that things were happening to her, and that she should be fearful, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel those emotions.
I can’t see his face, but his fingers, captured in my hand, are shaking.She’s so hardened to the violence that permeates her life, that she’s no longer truly affected by it. It actually takes Kerr pointing out that she was responsible for the deaths of 34 civilians before she acknowledges her role in their murders, before she even stops to think that while she was watching the fire ignite and the flowers burn, people were dying from her bomb. It made it hard for me to care about her or her journey, since she seemed so…vacant.
I wonder what it’s like to have violence be new and terrifying as I fall back asleep.
Even in my dreams, I can’t picture it.
So while Grace was successful at being an atmospheric read, casting me in a shroud of bleak despair while I read, it was unsuccessful at creating the world in which Grace lived and at making me care about Grace or her journey.
snarkywench's review
5.0
If Living Dead Girl rocked people's perceptions of Elizabeth Scott's writing then Grace will blow them up. It is different from anything else that she has published and demonstrates amazing growth and diversity as an author. Tense and political. Terse and exact. Scott sketches an image of a world where you are what you are told you will be. A life without choices and many sacrifices. A life without colour, without beauty, without connection and it is exceedingly grim. A minimal piece of writing, the reader's mind is constantly whirling as it processes new information and the actions of our protagonist and Kerr.
YA can often be put into two categories - amazing premise and expertly realised. Sometimes there is crossover but not usually. Grace walks that line like an acrobat as it quietly, subtlety, makes its way forward navigating fear, determination and ultimately hope. Grace presents a reality where society is fractured into those that blindly (and fearfully) follow Keran Berj and those that oppose his rule, those of The Hills. A world of tyranny, violence, suppression and fear where being an Angel is a great honour. An honour that Grace can't see through entirely so she runs. And this is where the story begins.
Grace isn't flashy. It is not glitzy or dimple cheeked. It is deliciously barren. A small novel, it's short chapters and at times even shorter sentences convey the trapped quality of this world and the tethers that bind. It is novels like Grace that challenge the notion that YA is fluff. There's no fluff here, only heat and oppression. Sparse, resolute and political, Scott has explored the notion of power, identity and sacrifice in a way that leaves you quiet. It creeps up on you. It is the study of a girl who straddles two world and is wanted by neither. In choosing herself, she chooses to fight for her freedom.
A beautifully realised introspective novel about life, death and the choices we make in between. The insular first person narration and few characters focus the story intently on the train ride and the steps that brought Grace and Kerr to that point. Revelations unwind like a slight breeze and wash over you as they may (or may not) get closer to escape. A wonderful and vastly different addition to the Elizabeth Scott collection and young adult literature.
A thought provoking exploration of the power of one.
YA can often be put into two categories - amazing premise and expertly realised. Sometimes there is crossover but not usually. Grace walks that line like an acrobat as it quietly, subtlety, makes its way forward navigating fear, determination and ultimately hope. Grace presents a reality where society is fractured into those that blindly (and fearfully) follow Keran Berj and those that oppose his rule, those of The Hills. A world of tyranny, violence, suppression and fear where being an Angel is a great honour. An honour that Grace can't see through entirely so she runs. And this is where the story begins.
Grace isn't flashy. It is not glitzy or dimple cheeked. It is deliciously barren. A small novel, it's short chapters and at times even shorter sentences convey the trapped quality of this world and the tethers that bind. It is novels like Grace that challenge the notion that YA is fluff. There's no fluff here, only heat and oppression. Sparse, resolute and political, Scott has explored the notion of power, identity and sacrifice in a way that leaves you quiet. It creeps up on you. It is the study of a girl who straddles two world and is wanted by neither. In choosing herself, she chooses to fight for her freedom.
A beautifully realised introspective novel about life, death and the choices we make in between. The insular first person narration and few characters focus the story intently on the train ride and the steps that brought Grace and Kerr to that point. Revelations unwind like a slight breeze and wash over you as they may (or may not) get closer to escape. A wonderful and vastly different addition to the Elizabeth Scott collection and young adult literature.
A thought provoking exploration of the power of one.