Wednesday, August 17, 2016

The Light Fantastic by Sarah Combs-- And How It Made Me THINK

On a day in April (a month where bad things seem more likely to happen), 7 teens make life-changing decisions, face unimaginable horror, and learn they are stronger than they imagined.

An internet group termed The Assassins by it's creator, The Mastermind, is about to carry out their plot on this very clear and happy April day.  Some people are having second thoughts, some feel they have nothing to lose, and some are being intercepted by people who have no idea what's going on.  Will this be another black mark on the April calendar?













This is going to be a tough one to review.  It's like trying to describe the way something delicious tastes-- there are only so many words to do it and none of them are as good as the actual eating of the food.  I had the best time reading this book.  It's so smart and emotional that I basically never wanted it to end.

This book was one of those "not a lot happens" books, but it makes up for it in FEELING.  I'll always love a book that makes me think about the whys in life.  And this one made me do a lot of thinking.

I loved so many of these characters.  Good and bad.  Not everyone is a good guy in this book, but mostly, even the ones who were the bad ones made me feel compassion towards them in some way.

April is in Delaware and she has that weird condition where she can remember details about every day of her life, and she's always felt like she was tied to the bad things that seem to happen in April every year.  After all, she was born on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing.  Lincoln's dad was killed on September 11th, and now he's seeing a girl way out of his league.... except nobody knows the secrets she carries.  The Mastermind has been waiting for this day for a long, long time.  Nothing is going to stop him from carrying out his ultimate plan.  Gavin is crammed in a janitorial closet with an entire classroom of kids scared he'll never be able to run again.  And a bunch of other kids hate themselves more than anyone else could ever hate them.

It's a really hard book to explain because it's not what happens in the book that is impactful, it's what the book makes you think about.

Sometimes the philosophizing got old, but it was so insightful and meaningful that I didn't mind.  This book made me think about all the crazy things that happen in the world we live in and it made me feel like I did when I read Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock.  Like how there are so many people in pain & how many of those people are people that I know??  How many people are hiding their pain and how many do I interact with, and am I too self-involved to ever notice it?  How many people do I miss out on helping?  It also made me realize that I'll never understand certain things (like why people are so intent on hurting other people) and that people are really hard to understand in general.

So it ended rather abruptly, but I think I am okay with not knowing what happens to every last character.  I kind of like imagining it on my own.

Quote: "I think about it all the time, how many people there are, how there can't possibly be room on this earth for all that love and confusion and longing and fury.  Where are you supposed to put it all?  Where's it going to fit?"

OVERALL: Another one of those books that hit me right in the gut.  I love books like this that make me think outside of myself and look around at life that's going on that has nothing to do with me.  I'd recommend this to so many people, so I'm just going to say-- if you like books that make you feel, read this!

Date Published: 9/13/2016
How I got this book: Thanks to Candlewick Press for providing me with an Advanced Copy to read and honestly review
Publisher: Candlewick Press

Add it to your To-Read List!!

This Book Contains:
  • 7 Narrators
  • Bullying
  • Depression
  • A boy who talks in hashtags a lot
  • A girl with HSAM (Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory)
  • The Glass Menagerie
  • Forum transcripts
  • 1st & 3rd person narration
  • East and West coast, USA
  • NO romance

My Rating: 5/5









Character: Gavin
Book: Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

  • Annie is training for a marathon she never wanted to race, and Gavin never got to race the marathon he trained for.




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2 comments:

  1. Great review! I am not turned of at all by a book in which not a lot happens but it's introspective and gives you the feels/makes you think. This one actually sounds right up my alley and I hadn't even heard of it before!!

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    Replies
    1. I agree, I love the THINKER books more than the action books.

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