The Other Life

The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker
Paperback, 320 pages

Expected Publication: February 1st 2012 by Usborne Publishing Ltd.

My shelves: arc-or-review, apocalyptic, books-i-own, cover-appeal, dystopian, horror, read-in-2012, sci-fi, young-adult, zombies

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world 

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation...and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers. 
When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers. 
But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all?

My thanks go to Usborne for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Since I first heard about The Other Life late last year, it quickly became one of my most anticipated books of 2012. When I was welcomed to read and review the book before official publication, I couldn't wait to get stuck in! This book wasn't a disappointment and I think that it will appeal to fans of fast-paced dystopian books, especially those such as Life As We Knew It and the recently published Dark Inside. 

Whilst for the most part, I did enjoy this novel and it's fast paced action, there were a few flaws that irritated me at the beginning. Thankfully, by the end of the novel, the book did level out and it certainly felt as though the author had more confidence in what she was writing.

I found Sherry, our protagonist, took a little getting used to. I was slightly annoyed by her naiveté, lack of self awareness and also the fact that she asked so many questions to others even though they were no more aware of anything than her - I think that there should have been some more time for me, as a reader, to ask my own questions. When Sherry is told about the reason that everyone has been 'quarantined' in bunkers, to be protected from a mutation of the rabies disease (which turns humans into zombie 'Weepers'), by order of the Government/Military at the beginning of the book, she doesn't seem to have very strong feelings upon something that had such a huge impact on her life. This uncertainty was, however, quite apt at the same time - it would be easy to feel confused in her situation. I think that Sherry did evolve throughout the book and by the end, I found her to be a more determined, strong and likeable character.

Joshua, the love interest of this book, was quite atypical. He was handsome, but not perfect and he certainly had a sense of attitude to him. His quite secretive past life was also very intriguing. As a secondary character, I did enjoy reading about him. I thought that the relationship between Sherry and Joshua felt awkward, which was appropriate and realistic to their situation. I actually found their troubled friend, Tyler, to be one of the most interesting characters of the story. He has fantastic space for potential in the next books and I will look forward to learning about more of his story. It will also be interesting to see how other characters such as George, who has knowledge about the mutation, contribute to the next books.

The story is an interesting one and it is interesting to see how Sherry, her family and new-found friends adapt to their new, harsh reality and the fact that death and destruction is the norm. Seeing the contrast between her present life and her past life allowed me to see how much things had changed. I found the recollections of Sherry's past before each chapter to work very effectively. It's a very harrowing story with some very gruesome descriptions and events. We are kept on constant alert with the near constant action which helps you to feel as though you're in Sherry's position.

There are unanswered questions by the end of The Other Life and the revelations that we have  already found out have left me wanting more. This was a compelling book that made me look forward to discovering more on the next page and it was a very easy read. The ideas behind the story are very intriguing and the progression of this will be interesting to see in the next book, coming out in 2013.

Mockingbird

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Paperback, 224 pages

Published January 1st 2012 by Usborne Publishing Ltd.

(First published January 1st 2010)

My shelves: arc-or-review, contemporary, cover-appeal, mental-health, read-in-2012, realistic-fiction, title-appeal, young-adult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

11-year-old Caitlin has Asperger’s syndrome, and has always had her older brother, Devon, to explain the confusing things around her. But when Devon is killed in a tragic school shooting, Caitlin has to try and make sense of the world without him. With her dad spending most of his time crying in the shower, and her life at school becoming increasingly difficult, it doesn’t seem like things will ever get better again.

A heart-warming story of loss and recovery that won the American National Book Award 2010 – one of the most moving books you’ll ever read.

My thanks go to Usborne for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review

Mockingbird is a moving novel by Kathy Erskine in which she tries to send a very important message 'in hopes that we may all understand each other better'. This book was written after the Virginia Tech school shootings, which is of course a very emotive subject. Erskine handled the portrayal of the aftermath of this well.

I was drawn it from the very first page of Mockingbird by the unique writing style and distinct voice of our eleven year old narrator, Caitlin, who has Aspergers. We are thrown into the highly emotional setting from the start when we discover that Caitlin's brother, Devon, was a victim of a school shooting. The whole story is about 'Getting It' (finding understanding), finding closure and acceptance.

It is really interesting to see the world from Caitlin's perspective. She has quite basic language but the thought behind her words makes them very intense. For the most part, her actions make her appear younger than her age, but her thoughts could be seen as complex. There is some light humour throughout the book even though the protagonist isn't intentionally, or aware that she is, amusing - this just makes the story all that more poignant. Caitlin is often very literal in her thoughts and speech and this shows how things are interpreted differently by different people. Even though Caitlin was different, it's easy to empathise with her.

Reading about Caitlin trying to make friends with others and her relationships in general were intriguing and her search to be able to empathise with other was touching. I found reading about her relationship with Michael, a younger boy whose mother was killed during the shooting, to be emotive and very intense but also very natural. Both Michael and Caitlin are young and their childishness, juxtaposed by the harsh issue of death and loss was very effective. I also found the difficult relationship between Caitlin and Josh, a brother of the shooter, to be very stirring. There was more miscommunication when people were calling him 'evil' for simply being related to the shooter.

Her relationship with her counsellor and future art teacher were fantastic. However, I found one scene in particular, in which Mr Mason, a teacher, makes an offensive remark about autistic children to be quite crushing, I really felt emotion on behalf of Caitlin. 

The title, Mockingbird, is a direct reference to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. When Devon was still alive, he used to call Caitlin Scout as when she says something, it makes people think. The parallels between the Caitlin and Scout's family were well linked. A lot of this story revolves around Caitlin and her father working together to complete building a chest for Devon's Eagle-Scout project, in an attempt to give them both closure. This is a very sentimental idea and it is heartwarming to read about. The relationship between Caitlin and her father is poignant and impressive and when the chest is completed, there was quite an overwhelming feeling.

The ending of this book was pleasant, but of course it wasn't perfect - it shouldn't and possibly couldn't be perfect. Not everyone is best friends or happy, but there is certainly room left for this to be a possibility. There's a good conclusion which leaves the story able to naturally progress. 

Despite everything that happened, the community spirit is still there.

This was a fantastic and sometimes heart wrenching book that I would certainly recommend. I anticipate reading more of Erskine's work.