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A review by rooibos
Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King
3.0
The beginning was slow and led me to think Sarah would be a whiny character, like Hannah from 13 Reasons Why. However, that changed as soon as King revealed her family drama.
Up until about halfway through the book, I found the writing to be annoyingly repetitive. It was simple and no lines really stuck with me - something that I consider to be an indicator of a great book was missing. The first half had no action and it didn’t engage me at all. I only continued reading the book because it was short. That is why my rating is three stars rather than five.
The ending -my goodness - was spectacular. I loved everything. I loved Sarah’s dad getting kicked out and the revelations about abuse. This book was different from most in the YA genre in that it handles abuse realistically without glamorizing it.
During serious moments there were still lines that had me laughing out loud: “He kept looking at mom like she’d caused him these problems - a son who ate too fast and a girl who was a tortilla chip.” Maybe it was just me.
Did I mention there was no romance. No romantic attraction, no relationships, no complicated love. For the protagonist, at least. I think Sarah might be ace but that’s not the point of the book. Not even close. It was just another lovely part of this book.
Overall, I loved the end of this book soooooo much, but it starts off slow. I, admittedly, skimmed quite a few chapters in the beginning, but that’s okay because that’s the only way I made it to the great part. That’s discrediting the writing. It wasn’t all bad. I definitely enjoyed some parts in the first half. The monotony just wasn’t for me.
Before I move on, I have to rant about a page in the book. 40% into this book, Sarah decides to eat food from a trash can. I could not even bare to think about what it might represent because it’s just disgusting. Not only finishing a strangers food when she had money in her pocket, but the fact that OTHER THINGS ARE THROWN IN THE GARBAGE BIN. ALL THE GROSS STUFF PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO CARRY AROUND WITH THEM IS IN THAT. And she ate from it. Homeless people and poor people have to eat from the trash sometimes in order to avoid starving. But she had money. She didn’t have to do that. Yikes, my rant about one page has gotten a bit long, so I’m ending my review here.
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Up until about halfway through the book, I found the writing to be annoyingly repetitive. It was simple and no lines really stuck with me - something that I consider to be an indicator of a great book was missing. The first half had no action and it didn’t engage me at all. I only continued reading the book because it was short. That is why my rating is three stars rather than five.
The ending -my goodness - was spectacular. I loved everything. I loved
During serious moments there were still lines that had me laughing out loud: “He kept looking at mom like she’d caused him these problems - a son who ate too fast and a girl who was a tortilla chip.” Maybe it was just me.
Did I mention there was no romance. No romantic attraction, no relationships, no complicated love. For the protagonist, at least. I think Sarah might be ace but that’s not the point of the book. Not even close. It was just another lovely part of this book.
Overall, I loved the end of this book soooooo much, but it starts off slow. I, admittedly, skimmed quite a few chapters in the beginning, but that’s okay because that’s the only way I made it to the great part. That’s discrediting the writing. It wasn’t all bad. I definitely enjoyed some parts in the first half. The monotony just wasn’t for me.
Before I move on, I have to rant about a page in the book. 40% into this book, Sarah decides to eat food from a trash can. I could not even bare to think about what it might represent because it’s just disgusting. Not only finishing a strangers food when she had money in her pocket, but the fact that OTHER THINGS ARE THROWN IN THE GARBAGE BIN. ALL THE GROSS STUFF PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO CARRY AROUND WITH THEM IS IN THAT. And she ate from it. Homeless people and poor people have to eat from the trash sometimes in order to avoid starving. But she had money. She didn’t have to do that. Yikes, my rant about one page has gotten a bit long, so I’m ending my review here.
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