Story Description:
Atria Books|June
4, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-4767-3094-3
I live in a world
without magic or miracles. A place where
there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to
save you. A place where people die and
music disintegrates and things suck. I
am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I
wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.
Two and a half
years after an unspeakable tragedy left her a shadow of the girl she once was,
Nastya Kashnikov moves to a new town determined to keep her dark past hidden
and hold everyone at a distance. But her
plans only last so long before she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the one
person as isolated as herself, Josh Bennett.
Josh’s story is no
secret. Every person he loves has been
taken from his life until, at seventeen-years-old, there is no one left. When you name is synonymous with death, everyone
tends to give you your space. Everyone
except Nastya who won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every
aspect of his life. But as the
undeniable pull between them intensifies, he starts to wonder if he will ever
learn the secrets she’s been hiding – or if he even wants to.
The Sea of Tranquility is a rich,
intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally
fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.
My Review:
The Sea of Tranquility was a riveting,
intense, powerful, and well-written story.
Nastya Kashnikov
was once a beautiful piano player until an unspeakable crime happened to her
and changed her forever. She became very
withdrawn, quiet, and extremely fragile.
She dressed in black and far out clothing and kept to herself at school
knowing that she was talked about. She
had her parent’s home where the crime had taken place and moved to another town
to live with her aunt to give her time to think and sort out her life. She liked living with her aunt as she worked
nights and Nastya attended school during the day so they were like ships
passing in the night which gave Nastya time alone to herself.
Nastya loved to
run, and run she did for miles and miles and miles. She could think clearly and clear her head
when she ran. One night while running
she passed by Josh Bennett’s home and his garage door was open and he was
inside working. Nastya knew of Josh from
school. She decided to stop and entered
the garage but didn’t say anything. Josh
just let her be and allowed her to stay and watch while he built the furniture
he was making.
Josh lived alone
now as every single person in his family had passed away. His mother, his father, and his
grandparents. He had tons of money but
no one knew that about him. He attended
school then came home and built beautiful pieces of furniture in his
garage. Josh was as lonely as Nastya was
fragile.
Nastya began to
make visiting Josh in his garage a nightly thing and little by little they
became friends and began to talk, however Nastya never revealed to Josh what
had happened to her but he knew “something” terrible had occurred but never
asked her about it. He figured if she
wanted him to know she’d tell him and he himself wasn’t sure he even wanted to
know.
The story centers
on their relationship and how each of them comes to some realizations that yet
again changes them both. It was the most
powerful story I’ve read in a long time and would highly recommend it to anyone. I would also recommend it for book clubs as
there are a lot of topics that could be discussed from this novel. I’m keeping this one in my permanent
collection. I won’t forget The Sea of Tranquility for a long
time.
No comments:
Post a Comment