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A review by allisonsbeautifullife
Above by Leah Bobet
2.0
So I saw this book floating around the internet, and I was excited to check it out. This is the first novel that I’ve read by Leah so I didn’t know what to expect. I looked at her website to see her biography and this is what it says “Leah drinks tea, wears feathers in her hair and plants gardens in back alleys. She lives in Toronto Ontario” I like that. I appreciate her being from Canada since I try to support fellow Canadians.
First impressions: I really like the book jacket. We have one of our main characters (Ariel) standing in front of the Toronto skyline with the famous CN tower in the forefront. Shout out to Christopher Stengel who designed the book cover! The wings are what intrigued me and made me want to pick this book up quickly. I also like that each chapter has a picture of wings at the top.
The story revolves around these ‘beasts’ or ‘sick’ people who have genetic mutations or diseases that make them stand out from ‘normal’ humans. They have created an underground sanctuary that they call Safe. The story is told from Matthew or ‘Tellers’ point of view. He is the historian for Safe and keeps track of everyone’s tales.
When I started to read the book it took some getting used to because the characters live underground and therefore have their own slang and their own way of speaking. It took effort to understand what they meant. (Think Blood Red Road by Moira Young but less effective) The chapters are long, only 10 in the entire book. I liked that at the end of each chapter Teller retold the tale of one of the characters. It was interesting to hear their back stories.
These creatures (think x-men or Miss Peregrine’s school for unusual children) come together each year to reaffirm their responsibility of keeping their home safe, but this year things don’t go as planned and ‘shadows’ arrive and spoil their plans. This forces some of the characters to go ‘Above’ to get help.
This is when the story really got away from me. I found it difficult to understand what was going on and what the author was trying to get across. I didn’t feel connected to the characters at all, and I couldn’t even picture them because I wasn’t given enough clear information. I don’t think the story flows; it feels like the author wanted to get out a lot of ideas in a short amount of time. It was a struggle to finish this, and I wouldn’t recommend it to my friends or family. If it was a series I wouldn’t pick up the next one.
Check out the blog I write with my sisters
http://bibliophilesisters.wordpress.com/
First impressions: I really like the book jacket. We have one of our main characters (Ariel) standing in front of the Toronto skyline with the famous CN tower in the forefront. Shout out to Christopher Stengel who designed the book cover! The wings are what intrigued me and made me want to pick this book up quickly. I also like that each chapter has a picture of wings at the top.
The story revolves around these ‘beasts’ or ‘sick’ people who have genetic mutations or diseases that make them stand out from ‘normal’ humans. They have created an underground sanctuary that they call Safe. The story is told from Matthew or ‘Tellers’ point of view. He is the historian for Safe and keeps track of everyone’s tales.
When I started to read the book it took some getting used to because the characters live underground and therefore have their own slang and their own way of speaking. It took effort to understand what they meant. (Think Blood Red Road by Moira Young but less effective) The chapters are long, only 10 in the entire book. I liked that at the end of each chapter Teller retold the tale of one of the characters. It was interesting to hear their back stories.
These creatures (think x-men or Miss Peregrine’s school for unusual children) come together each year to reaffirm their responsibility of keeping their home safe, but this year things don’t go as planned and ‘shadows’ arrive and spoil their plans. This forces some of the characters to go ‘Above’ to get help.
This is when the story really got away from me. I found it difficult to understand what was going on and what the author was trying to get across. I didn’t feel connected to the characters at all, and I couldn’t even picture them because I wasn’t given enough clear information. I don’t think the story flows; it feels like the author wanted to get out a lot of ideas in a short amount of time. It was a struggle to finish this, and I wouldn’t recommend it to my friends or family. If it was a series I wouldn’t pick up the next one.
Check out the blog I write with my sisters
http://bibliophilesisters.wordpress.com/