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A review by erickaonpaper
Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King
4.0
trigger warning: mental/physical abuse, *assumed* statutory r***, alcohol abuse
Usually, I’m used to reading novels where themes are heavy-handed; I don’t read them often, but I think I’m mostly in a good headspace when dealing with such topics. Reading Still Life with Tornado, I think, was the very first time I was truly challenged to push on reading.
This book is told mostly from Sarah’s present point of view, every now and again including excerpts of Sarah’s mother’s point of view and her brother Bruce’s point of view. To me, each character had different yet similar voices; fortunately, I did not find this bland. Instead, I found it to be comforting, in that I knew there was a familial connection between the characters, and they sounded similar because they were each going through something together.
Whether it be because of empathy or hope, I never once thought to give up on the characters. I believe seeing the Sarahs of the future really helped; they were great assurances to me that Sarah would end up creating a decent life for herself. I also really like that the past and future Sarahs were taken in stride by both Sarah’s mom and Bruce; Sarah’s father, however, didn’t even realize that at one point, he’d had dinner with 10-year-old Sarah and was actively taken care of by all the future Sarahs.
The conclusion of this story felt just right for me. All the characters were tied up with the endings they deserved and fought hard for. It felt like a very long and tiring battle, but I was only there for a small chunk of it. I can barely imagine how Sarah, her mother, and Bruce felt while riding this journey.
To be quite honest, I feel like this review wouldn’t begin to sum up the way I felt after reading this book: dazed, appreciative, hopeful. There are so many ways to interpret what Sarah goes through in this book, and I recommend it to everyone: the ones who are lost, the artists who will always be artists, the broken-hearted, and siblings who care and love their kin no matter what.
Usually, I’m used to reading novels where themes are heavy-handed; I don’t read them often, but I think I’m mostly in a good headspace when dealing with such topics. Reading Still Life with Tornado, I think, was the very first time I was truly challenged to push on reading.
This book is told mostly from Sarah’s present point of view, every now and again including excerpts of Sarah’s mother’s point of view and her brother Bruce’s point of view. To me, each character had different yet similar voices; fortunately, I did not find this bland. Instead, I found it to be comforting, in that I knew there was a familial connection between the characters, and they sounded similar because they were each going through something together.
Whether it be because of empathy or hope, I never once thought to give up on the characters. I believe seeing the Sarahs of the future really helped; they were great assurances to me that Sarah would end up creating a decent life for herself. I also really like that the past and future Sarahs were taken in stride by both Sarah’s mom and Bruce; Sarah’s father, however, didn’t even realize that at one point, he’d had dinner with 10-year-old Sarah and was actively taken care of by all the future Sarahs.
The conclusion of this story felt just right for me. All the characters were tied up with the endings they deserved and fought hard for. It felt like a very long and tiring battle, but I was only there for a small chunk of it. I can barely imagine how Sarah, her mother, and Bruce felt while riding this journey.
To be quite honest, I feel like this review wouldn’t begin to sum up the way I felt after reading this book: dazed, appreciative, hopeful. There are so many ways to interpret what Sarah goes through in this book, and I recommend it to everyone: the ones who are lost, the artists who will always be artists, the broken-hearted, and siblings who care and love their kin no matter what.