Monday, May 10, 2010

Light beneath Ferns by Anne Spollen YP FIC SPOLLEN

Elizah Rayne is in her own words “nothing like other girl narrators.” She’s happy being unique and would be ecstatic to be entirely alone left in silence with her thoughts, preparing for ‘something’. Unfortunately, her mother is worried that having been abandoned by her gambling addict father, moved to a small new school, and living next to a graveyard will be bad for Elizah, so Elizah is forced to see a counselor at school and to socialize with people that madden her. All this becomes unimportant when she finds the bone and meets a strange young man that draws her into his world.

This book utterly took me by surprise. I am less than impressed by both the title and the book cover, but I wanted to know at least what it was about so I read the introduction. Elizah’s rant about how this “story does not teach a lesson,” and “will not make you more popular or get you invitations to parties,” grabbed me right away. And Elizah is absolutely right; she is unlike most girl narrators. She is very funny and smart, but also her dedication to solitude is a refreshing change. She isn’t chasing after new friends and her unwillingness to pay attention to the people that target her as a weirdo is empowering and frequently hilarious. The story takes a while to get started but Elizah is so fun to read that I think readers won’t mind. Once it does get started it really is excellent. This is one of the best supernatural reads I’ve read in a long time. It is handled very realistically and takes a scientific and logical look at how it is more open minded to accept that there are things we do not yet know. I think this is a great read for anyone that like realistic fiction but is open to a little supernatural.



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