Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Book recommendation: THE WAY WE FALL.

My "to be read" pile is notoriously huge, to the point that I will not allow myself to configure the Kindle that The Agent gave me for our anniversary until the stack of physical books waiting to be read weighs less than I do (this might happen faster if I stopped buying books). I have no system for going through it; I basically dig until I find something that looks interesting and fits what I want to read right now, and then go.

Yesterday morning, I decided to go for some YA fiction, and grabbed Giving Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe, a contemporary paranormal about bullying, loss, grief, true friendship, and a girl who can talk to dead people. I enjoyed it quite a bit; enough that I looked up the author to see if she had anything else I could buy (like maybe a sequel). What I discovered was that her second book, The Way We Fall, had just been released. I made a note to look for it...

...and then last night, when I found it displayed on the "New Releases" shelf at Barnes and Noble, I picked it up. I am weak. And I am glad to be weak, because this book is awesome.

Told in diary entry format, The Way We Fall is the story of Kaelyn, a sixteen year old girl living in an unidentified island community somewhere off the coast of Canada. She's writing a journal of letters to her best friend, Leo, first because she wants to reestablish their friendship, and then because she wants him to know what happened while he was gone. She wants him to know how they all died.

Because see, a strange disease hits the island. Airborne, with a long latency, and a period of increased sociability during what should be considered the most infectious stage. So when you're at your sickest, that's when you want to hug the neighbors and tell them how much you've always appreciated them. And then you die. It starts slow, and gets steadily worse, as diseases of this type usually do.

Kaelyn is not a doctor; not a scientist; not a virologist; she's a teenage girl, and her view on the outbreak is both moving and unique. She just wants to protect her family, herself, and her friends. She wants answers. She doesn't get them—not all of them, not enough of them. Crewe has done enough research to put together a plausible progression and set of symptoms, without actually needing to pin down her virus and walk herself into bad science territory. Instead, she has real people, in a bad place, and she lets them deal with their circumstances as best they can.

Kaelyn is a strong, smart, believable female protagonist in an tense YA novel that focuses on character and situation, rather than romance. Her losses are genuine, and painful. Better yet, there is an excellent level of diversity in the characters. Kaelyn and her older brother are mixed-race, with a black mother and a white father, both of whom appear quite a bit. Kaelyn's niece, who is central to the story, is black. Her best friend was born in Korea. And her brother is gay without being a stereotype or defined purely by his sexuality.

I really can't recommend this highly enough. I'm excited to know that there's a sequel coming, because not everything was answered at the end...but then again, not everything needed to be. It's a beautiful book.

You should check it out.
Tags: book review, good things, pandemic time, reading things
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  • 47 comments
I kept seeing your tweets about this, so I'm definitely going to check it out. :D
Yay!
Thanks for the review! It definitely sounds like something I'd enjoy, so I'll be checking it out.

Like you, I was waiting until I had better handle on my to be read pile before switching to a kindle. I eventually forced myself to start adding books to a "kindle wish list" so I could make a dent in what I already had to read. I have no willpower when it comes to buying books, but I had to do something drastic before my book collection kicked me out of my own house.
That makes sense.
I think I will pick it up, and save a whole box of tissues for it.

Unrelated to this post, I was just walking my dog and had this little monologue at him:

"Who's a good dog? You're a good dog. You'll always be a good dog. Even if you tease a zombie raccoon and then bite the neighbor's kid and zombify him-- wait, you're under forty pounds, that wouldn't happen, but you'd still be a good dog!"

I think the bit in the 2014 series about Marigold thinking she was a bad dog grabbed me a little.
Hee hee hee.

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Awesome.
Wow, that does sound awesome!
I really enjoyed it.
That sounds absolutely fantastic. Wishlisted.
Yay!
That sounds fantastic.
I was delighted.
I am reading "The Way We Fall" now and I am finding it is a very difficult read, not because the book is badly written, but because I don't want these characters to experience bad things happening. :(
Exactly!

Wow, that sounds rather excellent, I am definitely going to look for this, thank you for the pointer!

Very welcome.


just sent it to my ipad. awesome <3 ty
Yay!
Wow--this sounds like a terrific read! Thanks for the recommendation. Not like I need to add my own TBR pile, but still.
It's good to know what's out there.

rhoda_rants

5 years ago

Oh, thanks! I'm adding it to my tbr pile.
Cool-cool.

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Aw, yay. :)
Yep, have read THE WAY WE FALL, and it's a goodie :-) THE LIVES WE LOST is currently scheduled for January 2013, as far as I know.
That's brilliant.
Damn you. My to read pile is already HUGE.
Whoops.

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Toxo rocks.
3:15 pm: bought the ebook
6:00 pm: started reading it
7:40 pm: hugged my kids really, really tightly before they went up to bed
7:43 pm: let the dogs out, remembered to let them back in
9:00 pm: finished the book

I feel vaguely gutted. I don't think I want to read the sequel. I don't trust that last scene at all. I have to read the next book when it comes out. I have to know what happens.
That's about where I am, too.
You keep talking about this, I may have to read it.
You should.
It's 1:30 in the morning. Thank you. I've told Vicky about it as well. Sharing the pain as it were. Awesome book</p>

One minor quibble, you said "the" coast of Canada, we have an East and West coast, We also have a North coat, we even have something of a South coast. This is set on the East coast. Not meant in a bad way just my Canadianess showing up

Only I'm not sure it is the East Coast. You can get the "Canada" part, and we know the protagonist and her family spent some time in Toronto, but the only other location referenced by name is Los Angeles. It could just as easily be meant as the West Coast. Hence my vagueness in location.

smoooom

5 years ago

smoooom

5 years ago

That sounds very cool. I'm going to check it out!
Yay!
And from Vicky.

Seanan McGuire, How delightful of you to suggest 'The way we fall' To my Mom. I have not been able to rip my self away from my iPad since around 1:30, and It;s now well past 6. Its one of those few books that has glued it's self to me like very few books have. If You ever fine Megan Crewe, Hug for me, Her book is truly... I can't really find a word to describe it. Now back to reading the book *Insane smiley face*
Awesome! I'm glad Vicky liked it.
You sold me on this! It is officially in my TBR pile.
Rock and roll.
Holy crap, wow. I picked this up the other day on your recommendation, and yes, yes, it was amazing. Thank you. :)
Very welcome!