Synopsis (from Goodreads)
Pages: 266
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Released: 8th of May 2018
i am the girl manny loves. the girl who writes our story in the book of flying. i am alice.
Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone. Something inside Alice is broken: she remembers words, but struggles to speak them. Still, Alice knows that words are for sharing, so she pins them to posters in tucked-away places: railway waiting rooms, fish-and-chips shops, quiet corners. Manny is sixteen, with a scar from shoulder to elbow. Something inside Manny is broken, too: he once was a child soldier, forced to do terrible, violent things. But in a new land with people who care for him, Manny explores the small town on foot. And in his pocket, he carries a poem he scooped up, a poem whose words he knows by heart. The relationship between Alice and Manny will be the beginning of love and healing. And for these two young souls, perhaps, that will be good enough.
What I Have to Say
It took me a while to get into this. Alice's voice was very interesting and I liked her use of words, but especially in the first few chapters and the poems were hard to understand, but after I got into it, it became much easier. It was definitely a unique voice, with a playful use of words that really showed Alice's character, that despite her struggles with words being a result of her brain injury, she has found a way to own it and make it her unique way of speaking.
I felt that the story was a bit lacking through most of the book. The fact that Manny and Alice didn't even meet properly until quite a way through the book meant that the first half was just them wondering about one another and not much really happened.
I really got into the book by the end though and the finale was very good and quite gripping. I only wish that the rest of the book could have been as satisfying plot wise.
My thanks goes to Netgalley and Candlewick Press for providing me with this copy for review.
