Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Our Teens Review Books: White Space by Ilsa J. Bick

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Publisher: Egmont USA

Number of Pages: 560

Rating: 7 out of 10

Synopsis (taken from Barnes and Noble): 
Seventeen-year-old Emma Lindsay has problems: a head full of metal, no parents, a crazy artist for a guardian whom a stroke has turned into a vegetable, and all those times when she blinks away, dropping into other lives so ghostly and surreal it’s as if the story of her life bleeds into theirs. But one thing Emma has never doubted is that she’s real.
          Then she writes “White Space,” a story about these kids stranded in a spooky house during a blizzard.
          Unfortunately, “White Space” turns out to be a dead ringer for part of an unfinished novel by a long-dead writer. The manuscript, which she’s never seen, is a loopyMatrix meets Inkheart story in which characters fall out of different books and jump off the page. Thing is, when Emma blinks, she might be doing the same and, before long, she’s dropped into the very story she thought she’d written. Trapped in a weird, snow-choked valley, Emma meets other kids with dark secrets and strange abilities: Eric, Casey, Bode, Rima, and a very special little girl, Lizzie. What they discover is that they–and Emma–may be nothing more than characters written into being from an alternative universe for a very specific purpose.
          Now what they must uncover is why they’ve been brought to this place–a world between the lines where parallel realities are created and destroyed and nightmares are written–before someone pens their end.

Review: 
This moment has been almost 8 weeks in the making. I originally received White Space as an ARC about a year ago and never could bring myself to start it until I found The Dickens Mirror. Why did I give this book a 7 out of 10? If I could, I’d give every single book I read a 10, but that’s not really rational. I love this book because it’s all over the place and the description rivals some of my favorite horror films. I’d liken the author to Stephen King if I hadn’t only seen his movies(i.e., The Shining, Carrie, etc.). There are so many different perspectives at once that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what is happening. Are the characters real? Is one of them the “real” character and the rest have stemmed from this “real” character? However, I couldn’t give it above a 7 BECAUSE the story was so confusing. Even when you think you’ve finally figured it out, some aspect of the plot changes and you’re left questioning what you thought you knew about the plot and the characters. The writing was riveting and the characters were beautiful. I didn’t end up in a mess of tears like All the Bright Places, but I felt their pain and suffering and even joy, with them. Purple panops is my new favorite phrase and I love the idea of multiverses incorporated in the story as a Now. If you haven’t heard of The Dark Passages Series, I definitely recommend picking up a copy and trying it out. 

-- Taylor
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Does White Space sound like something you'd dig? Find it here on the CMRLS catalog and check it out!

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