Comment

Mar 17, 2014inthemeantimes rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Torn Away is heavy. It sits on your chest and pushes into your core and rattles the floor beneath your feet. From the first pages, you feel it. Most plot lines work / and this almost works \ and it is incredible. The writing, the story… it's quite masterful. The total lack of light is intense… somehow it keeps you hanging on through the darkness, so attached to Jersey, so angry for and with her, so aching with her, that you can't just let it go. Tornados have always terrified me. Like Jersey, I have lived in towns where tornado alarms were sounded often and even now, tornados are one of my worst fears. I think the book captures that feeling, the shakiness, the shrug of it at first, perfectly. Jersey's journey is heartbreaking yet incredible. It's absolutely terrible and the emotions reach inside you and shake you until all you want to do is punch a hole in a wall or scratch someone's face off. (that's alluding to the book… okay… whoops sorry) Yet there were bits and pieces that made my heart melt. The drawings and memories on gum wrappers, the scene in the book store, the hair dye, the card games… and her strength! I liked it because it was realistic-- she was so weak and so so strong at the same time. It inspired me and it made me think and wonder and hope for my own life. This is an incredible book and I am so lucky and thankful I got this Advanced Reading Copy!