Scan barcode
A review by sausome
We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu
2.0
This book is difficult to describe.
I was truly lured in by the gorgeous cover and the premise of the story. The idea of a strange lake that appears and disappears in the middle of the Minnesota woods; the idea of the body of a high school boy found in the woods, dead by drowning with no lake in sight; the idea of a possible ghost sending texts to his living friend ... all of these things sound like the makings of a really fascinating read. And yet ...
There are definite nuggets of "fascinating" in this book, to be sure. I felt myself wavering between intrigued and bored, with "bored" ultimately winning out. The book seemed to almost be two books Frankenstein-stitched together. The teenage relationship elements felt really teenager-y. I felt I was reading "Eclipse" without vampires or werewolves, just drama. What makes this book better than that, though, is that it fully embraces the exploration of queer relationships. This story includes two girls becoming interested in one another, in addition to very long and fraught discussions about asexuality and what sex means to a relationship. I almost couldn't believe I was reading this in some chapters, and reading about a ghostly figure, a disappearing lake, a creepy lighthouse exploration in another!
In addition to frank discussions about sexuality, there is a heavy overtone of grief for the whole of the book, owing to Link's death and the impact that left. There is also a brief mention of physical and emotional abuse by a parent. And there is mention of self-harm.
Grief, asexuality, lesbian relationships, self-harm, abuse ... AND ghostly lake creepiness. Perhaps this is much like Maggie Stiefvater's books, as I seem to recall reading one and having many of these elements show up. As it is, these types of reads just aren't for me.
I was truly lured in by the gorgeous cover and the premise of the story. The idea of a strange lake that appears and disappears in the middle of the Minnesota woods; the idea of the body of a high school boy found in the woods, dead by drowning with no lake in sight; the idea of a possible ghost sending texts to his living friend ... all of these things sound like the makings of a really fascinating read. And yet ...
There are definite nuggets of "fascinating" in this book, to be sure. I felt myself wavering between intrigued and bored, with "bored" ultimately winning out. The book seemed to almost be two books Frankenstein-stitched together. The teenage relationship elements felt really teenager-y. I felt I was reading "Eclipse" without vampires or werewolves, just drama. What makes this book better than that, though, is that it fully embraces the exploration of queer relationships. This story includes two girls becoming interested in one another, in addition to very long and fraught discussions about asexuality and what sex means to a relationship. I almost couldn't believe I was reading this in some chapters, and reading about a ghostly figure, a disappearing lake, a creepy lighthouse exploration in another!
In addition to frank discussions about sexuality, there is a heavy overtone of grief for the whole of the book, owing to Link's death and the impact that left. There is also a brief mention of physical and emotional abuse by a parent. And there is mention of self-harm.
Grief, asexuality, lesbian relationships, self-harm, abuse ... AND ghostly lake creepiness. Perhaps this is much like Maggie Stiefvater's books, as I seem to recall reading one and having many of these elements show up. As it is, these types of reads just aren't for me.