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A review by crikeycrawfish
I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall
4.0
4.5 Stars!!!
I would first like to start this review by thanking this book for getting me out of a month long slump. It was way out of my usual genre of choice and I am all the more thankful for it. The complete realism of it was so different than fantasy that it got me back into reading for the year. Now on to the actual review!
I REALLY liked this book. Granted, I really love stories of survival, of fighting against the odds as much as you can which this girl definitely does.
One of the best aspects this story was the completely realistic approach it had and the consistency it kept throughout the story. A big pet peeve of mine is when characters are injured pretty severely and then two days later are fine (like the human body does not work like that fam). That is not the case with this story.
Our protagonist, Jess, begins the story as injured and it all goes down hill from there for her (bless her heart). It keeps her injury's healing (or getting worse) in real time. She doesn't just push through everything but actually feels pain that makes it too hard to accomplish tasks. Willpower is strong but not strong enough to fight a severely weakened body and I just really really appreciated that this story addressed that, especially as a survival story. It kept the odds stacked against her and actually kept me more invested.
Another thing I think this author did really well (and there's some actual term for this but I can't remember it) but the way she built up the character and then had events bring her back down again was done soooooooo well. It was just an accumulation of bad luck that lead to her break down of hope (which led to other events but spooooooooiiilllllleeeeerrrrrsssss). It was just really good story telling in that aspect.
Now this part could be considered both annoying but also kinda cool in my opinion is that Jess doens't just suddenly know how to live in the woods. She's not just an instant survivalist. As she points out multiple times, she's a city girl, and that shows. The only reason I say this can be annoying is because a lot of the time I wanted to punch her but that's just because I'm actually from the country and knew how to do these things, but it was good for her not to because that just wouldn't have been realistic. So if you read this, give her a break for not knowing exactly what to do.
THAT ENDING THOUGH. Ugh. It was so exciting and that one part (IF YOU'VE READ IT YOU KNOW) was so painful but poetic but beautiful and I cried for probably 5 full minutes before I could pull myself together to finish the book.
All in all, a very very realistic story of survival that I could probably write a 10 page spoiler filled, feel fueled review on, but I'll just leave it with one redacted spoiler.
AND WITH THE LAST BULLET THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE BAD GUY AS REVENGE BUT ENDED UP BEING USED AS A MERCY SHOT FOR HER ONLY COMPANION. I CRYYYYYYYYYYYY.
And they way she described that he was already home out in the woods under the sky UGHHHHHHH. Literally I just started crying again thinking about it. #BoDeservedBetter
I would first like to start this review by thanking this book for getting me out of a month long slump. It was way out of my usual genre of choice and I am all the more thankful for it. The complete realism of it was so different than fantasy that it got me back into reading for the year. Now on to the actual review!
I REALLY liked this book. Granted, I really love stories of survival, of fighting against the odds as much as you can which this girl definitely does.
One of the best aspects this story was the completely realistic approach it had and the consistency it kept throughout the story. A big pet peeve of mine is when characters are injured pretty severely and then two days later are fine (like the human body does not work like that fam). That is not the case with this story.
Our protagonist, Jess, begins the story as injured and it all goes down hill from there for her (bless her heart). It keeps her injury's healing (or getting worse) in real time. She doesn't just push through everything but actually feels pain that makes it too hard to accomplish tasks. Willpower is strong but not strong enough to fight a severely weakened body and I just really really appreciated that this story addressed that, especially as a survival story. It kept the odds stacked against her and actually kept me more invested.
Another thing I think this author did really well (and there's some actual term for this but I can't remember it) but the way she built up the character and then had events bring her back down again was done soooooooo well. It was just an accumulation of bad luck that lead to her break down of hope (which led to other events but spooooooooiiilllllleeeeerrrrrsssss). It was just really good story telling in that aspect.
Now this part could be considered both annoying but also kinda cool in my opinion is that Jess doens't just suddenly know how to live in the woods. She's not just an instant survivalist. As she points out multiple times, she's a city girl, and that shows. The only reason I say this can be annoying is because a lot of the time I wanted to punch her but that's just because I'm actually from the country and knew how to do these things, but it was good for her not to because that just wouldn't have been realistic. So if you read this, give her a break for not knowing exactly what to do.
THAT ENDING THOUGH. Ugh. It was so exciting and that one part (IF YOU'VE READ IT YOU KNOW) was so painful but poetic but beautiful and I cried for probably 5 full minutes before I could pull myself together to finish the book.
All in all, a very very realistic story of survival that I could probably write a 10 page spoiler filled, feel fueled review on, but I'll just leave it with one redacted spoiler.
Spoiler
BUT WHY DID BO HAVE TO DIE?! I mean, I had already been thinking that this wild, beautiful creature didn't have a place back in a city or anything BUT WHY DID YOU HAVE TO HURT ME LIKE THAT.AND WITH THE LAST BULLET THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE BAD GUY AS REVENGE BUT ENDED UP BEING USED AS A MERCY SHOT FOR HER ONLY COMPANION. I CRYYYYYYYYYYYY.
And they way she described that he was already home out in the woods under the sky UGHHHHHHH. Literally I just started crying again thinking about it. #BoDeservedBetter