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A review by rachel_abby_reads
My Diary from the Edge of the World by Jodi Lynn Anderson
4.0
Gracie is maybe twelve, living with her 16 year old sister Millie, her younger brother Sam (age unclear, but young enough to cuddle on laps, including Gracie's), and her parents, in Cliffden, Maine. She goes to school, reads, keeps a diary, and lives a largely normal life, in a largely normal world.
But her Earth is flat. It has telephones, electricity and cars, and dragons, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. Sasquatch involvement limited the Civil War to 4 months and WWI was averted by poltergeists in machines. There is no interstate highway system because the forest is reclaiming the country.
And there are Clouds. Clouds come for people - it either takes them and they die, or takes them because they are dying - the causal relationship is unclear, even if the connection isn't. And a Cloud is stalking slowly up their street. Gracie has seen her parents take Sam to the doctor, he's taking medicine - it doesn't look good.
Gracie's dad is a meteorologist, wanna-be physicist, and a little crazy. He believes in the Extraordinary World. It's theoretically possible, due to String Theory (or its flat earth version), that there is a world like Flat Earth, but not like Flat Earth; where there is a Cliffden, Maine, but NOT ghosts. Where they don't have witches and genies, but they do have planes and the internet. Most importantly, they don't have Clouds.
So Gracie's family and runaway/orphan Oliver decide that rather than risk the Cloud, they leave and find a way to the Extraordinary World.
I liked this book. It was interesting to see an alternative view of this world, where there are still Trump Casinos and 60 Minutes, but a Lost Angels, California that is a ghost town, with the loudest sounds being made by crickets and millions of frogs. Definitely worth reading.
Dad: I liked that he was called out for his absenteeism in his role in the family. It was interesting that he was the parent subject to depression, because so often it seems to be the mother. He also seemed generally clueless as to what was going on in the family around him, but strangely aware of the tension between Mom and Captain Bill.
Mom: What about Mom and Captain Bill? I like the way it turned out, but it seems WILDLY unlikely that she wouldn't have realized what signals she was sending while on the ship. I wonder if it was being confronted with the consequences, immediate and delayed, of her temptation that made her snap out of the fantasy fog.
Cloud: peaceful and gentle - to know when your time is up, to have time to prepare, to be able to say goodbye, and gently received. I am curious about the ghosts, and how they died without Clouds.
Medusa: How did she react when her Pegasi were stolen?
I've seen some people complain about the end, but I didn't dive into their complaints, so I don't know the foundation.
Millie dying instead of Sam: I'm okay with that. On reflection, I am curious to know if she WAS able to make a deal with the Cloud to save Sam. If not, how did she know it was there for her, and was she able to ask it to wait?
No exit to Extraordinary World: I'm okay with that. Sometimes there is no escape and we have to deal with what is. Plus, there is no guarantee that getting to EW would have changed anyone's fate.
Oliver and the foster family: There seems a gentle foundation laid for a future relationship between Oliver and Gracie, and it's less complicated if he's not an adopted brother.
Mom not hooking up with Captain Bill: romance is fun, but the fizzy feelings don't endure. Real LOVE is based on consistently loyal choices. Dad may be a little absent, but we now know he wasn't wrong in his theories, and we know what he will do to try to save the people he loves, including put his own life on the line. He would literally go to the ends of the earth to try to save his family. Captain Bill was willing to take Mom away from her family at a critical time, just so he could replace his lost wife. That's not romantic; that's selfish.
So, I liked this book.
But her Earth is flat. It has telephones, electricity and cars, and dragons, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. Sasquatch involvement limited the Civil War to 4 months and WWI was averted by poltergeists in machines. There is no interstate highway system because the forest is reclaiming the country.
And there are Clouds. Clouds come for people - it either takes them and they die, or takes them because they are dying - the causal relationship is unclear, even if the connection isn't. And a Cloud is stalking slowly up their street. Gracie has seen her parents take Sam to the doctor, he's taking medicine - it doesn't look good.
Gracie's dad is a meteorologist, wanna-be physicist, and a little crazy. He believes in the Extraordinary World. It's theoretically possible, due to String Theory (or its flat earth version), that there is a world like Flat Earth, but not like Flat Earth; where there is a Cliffden, Maine, but NOT ghosts. Where they don't have witches and genies, but they do have planes and the internet. Most importantly, they don't have Clouds.
So Gracie's family and runaway/orphan Oliver decide that rather than risk the Cloud, they leave and find a way to the Extraordinary World.
I liked this book. It was interesting to see an alternative view of this world, where there are still Trump Casinos and 60 Minutes, but a Lost Angels, California that is a ghost town, with the loudest sounds being made by crickets and millions of frogs. Definitely worth reading.
Spoiler
Some thoughts:Dad: I liked that he was called out for his absenteeism in his role in the family. It was interesting that he was the parent subject to depression, because so often it seems to be the mother. He also seemed generally clueless as to what was going on in the family around him, but strangely aware of the tension between Mom and Captain Bill.
Mom: What about Mom and Captain Bill? I like the way it turned out, but it seems WILDLY unlikely that she wouldn't have realized what signals she was sending while on the ship. I wonder if it was being confronted with the consequences, immediate and delayed, of her temptation that made her snap out of the fantasy fog.
Cloud: peaceful and gentle - to know when your time is up, to have time to prepare, to be able to say goodbye, and gently received. I am curious about the ghosts, and how they died without Clouds.
Medusa: How did she react when her Pegasi were stolen?
I've seen some people complain about the end, but I didn't dive into their complaints, so I don't know the foundation.
Millie dying instead of Sam: I'm okay with that. On reflection, I am curious to know if she WAS able to make a deal with the Cloud to save Sam. If not, how did she know it was there for her, and was she able to ask it to wait?
No exit to Extraordinary World: I'm okay with that. Sometimes there is no escape and we have to deal with what is. Plus, there is no guarantee that getting to EW would have changed anyone's fate.
Oliver and the foster family: There seems a gentle foundation laid for a future relationship between Oliver and Gracie, and it's less complicated if he's not an adopted brother.
Mom not hooking up with Captain Bill: romance is fun, but the fizzy feelings don't endure. Real LOVE is based on consistently loyal choices. Dad may be a little absent, but we now know he wasn't wrong in his theories, and we know what he will do to try to save the people he loves, including put his own life on the line. He would literally go to the ends of the earth to try to save his family. Captain Bill was willing to take Mom away from her family at a critical time, just so he could replace his lost wife. That's not romantic; that's selfish.
So, I liked this book.