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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a difficult book to read. Am I glad I read it? Yes. Do I want to read it again? Probably not.
This book centers around Thea, a teenage girl who is hard of hearing. She was born partially deaf, but her parents don’t recognize her disability. She misses a lot of what people are saying around her as she needs to try extra hard to listen. Her parents remove her and her little sister from school after a bullying incident. After a flood in their hometown in Ohio, Thea’s father decides to move them to Colorado to be homesteaders. Thea’s parents are awful and the source of several uncomfortable scenes throughout the book. Her father is a delusional narcissist who isolates and neglects his children to the point of abuse. Her mother goes along with the father’s plan because she doesn’t have a spine. The neglect is so obvious that other adults in the area almost instantly attempt to help Thea.
The area of Colorado they move to is just dust. Thea’s family moved to this area to live off the land, but the land is dry and in a severe drought. To help support the family, Thea and her mother work in town. Here Thea meets other area residents and starts to learn about her new home. However, these meetings and new information have to be kept a secret (see previously mentioned imposed isolation and neglect). As Thea learns more about the area she comes to realize this isn’t the dream location her father believes it to be.
Parts I liked:
• Deaf/hard of hearing rep by a hard of hearing author and how this was shown throughout the book
• Commentary/information on climate change and its impacts
• How the history and impacts of the Dust Bowl were woven into the narrative
• Showcasing the need for community and how we don’t have to do everything on our own
Parts I didn’t like:
• The beginning of this book is very slow and repetitive, but it picks up and starts moving forward around the 30-40% point.
• Thea’s parents and how long it takes them to recognize her disability
Thank you to Wednesday Books, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book centers around Thea, a teenage girl who is hard of hearing. She was born partially deaf, but her parents don’t recognize her disability. She misses a lot of what people are saying around her as she needs to try extra hard to listen. Her parents remove her and her little sister from school after a bullying incident. After a flood in their hometown in Ohio, Thea’s father decides to move them to Colorado to be homesteaders. Thea’s parents are awful and the source of several uncomfortable scenes throughout the book. Her father is a delusional narcissist who isolates and neglects his children to the point of abuse. Her mother goes along with the father’s plan because she doesn’t have a spine. The neglect is so obvious that other adults in the area almost instantly attempt to help Thea.
The area of Colorado they move to is just dust. Thea’s family moved to this area to live off the land, but the land is dry and in a severe drought. To help support the family, Thea and her mother work in town. Here Thea meets other area residents and starts to learn about her new home. However, these meetings and new information have to be kept a secret (see previously mentioned imposed isolation and neglect). As Thea learns more about the area she comes to realize this isn’t the dream location her father believes it to be.
Parts I liked:
• Deaf/hard of hearing rep by a hard of hearing author and how this was shown throughout the book
• Commentary/information on climate change and its impacts
• How the history and impacts of the Dust Bowl were woven into the narrative
• Showcasing the need for community and how we don’t have to do everything on our own
Parts I didn’t like:
• The beginning of this book is very slow and repetitive, but it picks up and starts moving forward around the 30-40% point.
• Thea’s parents and how long it takes them to recognize her disability
Thank you to Wednesday Books, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
Oof, this really struck a chord with the pre-teen and teenager that still lives inside me. I was heavily monitored and surveilled as a teenager, so I felt incredibly seen by the main character Thea's experience. Though mine was not directly related to religion and conspiracy theories about the end of the world (our parents had different motivations for being so suffocating and borderline emotionally abusive/holding us in captivity), this story of finding one's voice and finally attaining some autonomy to explore and advocate for yourself was incredible.
This book is set in an almost ghost-town Colorado, where Thea's family has relocated from a bigger city in Ohio after a flood ruined their home, to seek a "quieter, simpler" life. The girls (Thea and her younger sister Amelia) have a farm and are homeschooled by their mom, but to help the family out, Thea is allowed to work at the local cafe, and her supervisor asks her to deliver an order to the library across the street. This is where she meets Ray, a kid her age who is Deaf/hard-of-hearing, just like her, and he knows sign language, which she does not. Thea's parents will barely acknowledge that she is Deaf, and this only has Thea turn inward even more with her confusion, isolation, and desperation to be heard/validated.
As Thea spends more time at the cafe, library, and other folk's homes in this small town, her world monumentally expands with possibilities and ideas she never knew were possible. Your heart aches for her and Amelia, as it's so clear that their parents wanted to keep their worlds as small as possible, so that they could maintain power and control over their minds and bodies. Thea left behind friends in Ohio, so it's not that she never knew kindness or understanding before. This was a new level of inviting her to not only be herself, but to re-get to know herself with these new revelations of what life could be like, now that her disability was named.
The titular "dust" is so incredibly eerie; Thea notices her sister's symptoms that are consistent with those who survived the last Dust Bowl in the 1930s, and this makes for haunting commentary on climate change and those who deny its existence and urgency. The storm was terrifying, and Alison Stine's writing style was so subtle yet fully immersive?! The setting was atmospheric and you could feel the desolation, loneliness, and caution that permeated in the town.
Do I think Thea's parents should have shown a bit more of an arc or done more to remedy their abuse of Thea and Amelia? Absolutely. However, I will always be happy for a main character who suffered deeply when they reach resolutions with the folks who dismissed and belittled them for so long, to finally be heard and treated with dignity. This is fiction, so I'm gonna let Thea have that rushed little happily for now with her family, but her dad especially is still my mortal enemy!
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Thea's story in this YA speculative fiction, even though it broke my heart and made me ache with rage and exhaustion for her. However, I appreciate the Deaf/HoH representation by a Deaf/HoH author <3 I look forward to what Alison Stine writes next.
Oof, this really struck a chord with the pre-teen and teenager that still lives inside me. I was heavily monitored and surveilled as a teenager, so I felt incredibly seen by the main character Thea's experience. Though mine was not directly related to religion and conspiracy theories about the end of the world (our parents had different motivations for being so suffocating and borderline emotionally abusive/holding us in captivity), this story of finding one's voice and finally attaining some autonomy to explore and advocate for yourself was incredible.
This book is set in an almost ghost-town Colorado, where Thea's family has relocated from a bigger city in Ohio after a flood ruined their home, to seek a "quieter, simpler" life. The girls (Thea and her younger sister Amelia) have a farm and are homeschooled by their mom, but to help the family out, Thea is allowed to work at the local cafe, and her supervisor asks her to deliver an order to the library across the street. This is where she meets Ray, a kid her age who is Deaf/hard-of-hearing, just like her, and he knows sign language, which she does not. Thea's parents will barely acknowledge that she is Deaf, and this only has Thea turn inward even more with her confusion, isolation, and desperation to be heard/validated.
As Thea spends more time at the cafe, library, and other folk's homes in this small town, her world monumentally expands with possibilities and ideas she never knew were possible. Your heart aches for her and Amelia, as it's so clear that their parents wanted to keep their worlds as small as possible, so that they could maintain power and control over their minds and bodies. Thea left behind friends in Ohio, so it's not that she never knew kindness or understanding before. This was a new level of inviting her to not only be herself, but to re-get to know herself with these new revelations of what life could be like, now that her disability was named.
The titular "dust" is so incredibly eerie; Thea notices her sister's symptoms that are consistent with those who survived the last Dust Bowl in the 1930s, and this makes for haunting commentary on climate change and those who deny its existence and urgency. The storm was terrifying, and Alison Stine's writing style was so subtle yet fully immersive?! The setting was atmospheric and you could feel the desolation, loneliness, and caution that permeated in the town.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Thea's story in this YA speculative fiction, even though it broke my heart and made me ache with rage and exhaustion for her. However, I appreciate the Deaf/HoH representation by a Deaf/HoH author <3 I look forward to what Alison Stine writes next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting
dark
emotional
reflective
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A haunting and harrowing novel about a young woman trying to find her place after her family moves to desolate Colorado.
Thea and her family relocate from Ohio to Colorado after a flood ravages their hometown. Thea's father sees a future for his family without technology or the trappings of modern life. They'll own their own land and grow their own food, school the kids at home, and eschew electricity and running water. But arriving in Colorado, the family finds a half-built house and fields too dusty and parched to grow much of anything. And then the dust storms start.
Wow, this is an amazing story. Thea is deaf in one ear, but told by her parents to hide her inability to hear. She feels disconnected from her family and the world, and Stine writes the text to illustrate the "blanks" in conversation that Thea cannot catch. With her father's reluctance to embrace technology or outside education, the book clearly illustrates Thea's suffocation of being trapped on the hot, dusty farm, unable to hear and struggling with the feeling of being different and "in between." The writing just oozes claustrophobia.
We see how easily a person's world can be narrowed without education or access to the internet or books--Thea works so hard to secretly get to the town's library, for instance, where she meets some kind town members, and Ray, another deaf kid her age, which opens up an entire world for her. Otherwise, she's so isolated, seeing only her little sister, and not even knowing that being deaf is okay. Ray teaches Thea about ASL and she accompanies him and his uncle on journeys around the county to visit other town members, learning about other types of people.
Watching Thea's world broaden is amazing, especially as she tries to learn more about her environment. DUST leans heavily into environmentalism, illustrating the effects of climate change on Colorado, and how the 1930s-era Dust Bowl horrors could so easily happen again. The storms and the climate feel like another character, creating a tense atmosphere that truly comes to life.
This book just has that uncanny ability to make you feel--the tenseness of the storms; the powerlessness Thea feels against her father; the kindness of Thea's boss at the local cafe where she works; and the bit of hope and spark that comes between Thea and Ray. It's so beautifully written, and Thea is a wonderful character. My only issue is the story's ending, which I felt wrapped up too easily. A book this dark and poignant almost deserved a more severe conclusion, as much as I cared for all the characters.
Still, this is an amazing book and so worth the read.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Wednesday Books in return for an unbiased review.
Thea and her family relocate from Ohio to Colorado after a flood ravages their hometown. Thea's father sees a future for his family without technology or the trappings of modern life. They'll own their own land and grow their own food, school the kids at home, and eschew electricity and running water. But arriving in Colorado, the family finds a half-built house and fields too dusty and parched to grow much of anything. And then the dust storms start.
Wow, this is an amazing story. Thea is deaf in one ear, but told by her parents to hide her inability to hear. She feels disconnected from her family and the world, and Stine writes the text to illustrate the "blanks" in conversation that Thea cannot catch. With her father's reluctance to embrace technology or outside education, the book clearly illustrates Thea's suffocation of being trapped on the hot, dusty farm, unable to hear and struggling with the feeling of being different and "in between." The writing just oozes claustrophobia.
We see how easily a person's world can be narrowed without education or access to the internet or books--Thea works so hard to secretly get to the town's library, for instance, where she meets some kind town members, and Ray, another deaf kid her age, which opens up an entire world for her. Otherwise, she's so isolated, seeing only her little sister, and not even knowing that being deaf is okay. Ray teaches Thea about ASL and she accompanies him and his uncle on journeys around the county to visit other town members, learning about other types of people.
Watching Thea's world broaden is amazing, especially as she tries to learn more about her environment. DUST leans heavily into environmentalism, illustrating the effects of climate change on Colorado, and how the 1930s-era Dust Bowl horrors could so easily happen again. The storms and the climate feel like another character, creating a tense atmosphere that truly comes to life.
This book just has that uncanny ability to make you feel--the tenseness of the storms; the powerlessness Thea feels against her father; the kindness of Thea's boss at the local cafe where she works; and the bit of hope and spark that comes between Thea and Ray. It's so beautifully written, and Thea is a wonderful character. My only issue is the story's ending, which I felt wrapped up too easily. A book this dark and poignant almost deserved a more severe conclusion, as much as I cared for all the characters.
Still, this is an amazing book and so worth the read.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Wednesday Books in return for an unbiased review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No