elna17a9a 's review for:

I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall

2.75

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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 I'm waffling between 2 and 3 stars - I think I wanted more of a pure survival story. (But that cover is so gorgeous!)

Poor poor Jess. Unmoored and permanently injured at the beginning, having lost her mom, she is just beginning to get close to her dad when he's killed, leaving her to fend for herself in the harsh Canadian wilderness. With her injured leg, small amount of survival skills, and her father's dog, she spends months waiting for rescue.

Jess as a character was great - believable, strong, determined, but scared and prone to hopelessness. I loved that Marshall gave her a disability. Even though she didn't know much, she figured it out and stuck to it.

But Marshall skipped over a lot of Jess actually figuring it out and the minutia of survival. I wanted every detail of Jess checking the traps, learning how to hunt, feeding Bo, keeping herself warm. That's why I read survival stories!