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A review by trisha_thomas
Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson
4.0
"Isn't it strange how a whole life can begin with a little spark?”
What a wonderfully quiet story. About loss and grief and family and a sense of belonging - the idea that your history tells part of your story.
This is the story of 3 different girls in 3 different times. The stories are a bit like puzzle pieces but one of the reasons I loved it was because of how it was written.
First there is Adri. She is in a future time from now. She has applied and been granted approval to begin the process of leaving earth - to have the chance to colonize and start the future of Mars. But she's stunned to hear that she will stay with family, a long lost cousin, while she prepares to leave. Adri didn't know she had any family and isn't exactly excited to find she has some. But she arrives and gets to know Lily. Adri is prickly, not a people person, and it takes time for her to even mildly warm up to Lily. As Adri and Lily try to trace their lineage to each other, Adri discovers a journal and letters in their family home.
The journal is Catherine's story. She is a young girl growing up in Kansas during the great Dust Bowl. Her chapters are amazing and horrifying. She is finding first love and first adventure but she is also watching her farm be buried in dirt and her sister's cough not going away. It's scary and fascinating.
Through Catherine's story, we learn about her mom. Her mother left England during the war but her best friend stayed behind. We learn, through letters from the best friend, who is named Lenore, what the war was like and how much she struggled with the losses in their town and the need to leave and flee and go to America with her friend.
The over all theme of the story is definitely family but it's also environment. Each girl is living through a difficult time and is making life or death decisions. They realize their strengths and maybe find courage as each new generation finds out about the courage and strength and love of the generation (or more) before them. I love the quiet subtle way the story sucked me in. I was so interested in how it all played out. I wanted to know how they all connected and i wanted to know how their individual stories collided but also how each thread ended. It was a amazing way to tell a story and I was hooked from page 1. Thank you [a:Jodi Lynn Anderson|94868|Jodi Lynn Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1337023922p2/94868.jpg], this was a wonderful story.
What a wonderfully quiet story. About loss and grief and family and a sense of belonging - the idea that your history tells part of your story.
This is the story of 3 different girls in 3 different times. The stories are a bit like puzzle pieces but one of the reasons I loved it was because of how it was written.
First there is Adri. She is in a future time from now. She has applied and been granted approval to begin the process of leaving earth - to have the chance to colonize and start the future of Mars. But she's stunned to hear that she will stay with family, a long lost cousin, while she prepares to leave. Adri didn't know she had any family and isn't exactly excited to find she has some. But she arrives and gets to know Lily. Adri is prickly, not a people person, and it takes time for her to even mildly warm up to Lily. As Adri and Lily try to trace their lineage to each other, Adri discovers a journal and letters in their family home.
The journal is Catherine's story. She is a young girl growing up in Kansas during the great Dust Bowl. Her chapters are amazing and horrifying. She is finding first love and first adventure but she is also watching her farm be buried in dirt and her sister's cough not going away. It's scary and fascinating.
Through Catherine's story, we learn about her mom. Her mother left England during the war but her best friend stayed behind. We learn, through letters from the best friend, who is named Lenore, what the war was like and how much she struggled with the losses in their town and the need to leave and flee and go to America with her friend.
The over all theme of the story is definitely family but it's also environment. Each girl is living through a difficult time and is making life or death decisions. They realize their strengths and maybe find courage as each new generation finds out about the courage and strength and love of the generation (or more) before them. I love the quiet subtle way the story sucked me in. I was so interested in how it all played out. I wanted to know how they all connected and i wanted to know how their individual stories collided but also how each thread ended. It was a amazing way to tell a story and I was hooked from page 1. Thank you [a:Jodi Lynn Anderson|94868|Jodi Lynn Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1337023922p2/94868.jpg], this was a wonderful story.