Deborah's Books: Review: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe (Fallen World #1)

Friday, March 2, 2012

Review: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe (Fallen World #1)

From Goodreads:

It starts with an itch you just can't shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you're dead.

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back. Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival.

As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest. Because how will she go on if there isn't?

***

Holy cow. Holy. Cow.

This book was completely different than other dystopian, apocalyptic, end-of-the-world, society is ravished by a disease novels.

The Way We Fall is written as a journal of letters Kaelyn writes to her estranged best friend, Leo. The letters start off as whimsical memories and long-harbored guilt. Slowly they turn to the curious events of a strange illness that is spreading throughout their secluded island off the coast of Canada.

Then the letters turn horrific as the disease turns pandemic, and there doesn't seem to be enough room for the bodies that keep piling up.

I love books that are written as letters. I think letters are so personal and share so much about a person without the writer realizing it. About the point where Kaelyn realizes Leo might never actually see these letters is when she starts pouring out more of her self, and I loved the way that made the book feel.

Kaelyn developed well from the shy girl who no one really likes to the one with the strength to take care of her family - what's left of it - and help save her community and home.

The disease starts with an itch you can't get rid of. And then there's a cough that won't go away. The day after I finished this book, I had an itch on my scalp. I literally was on the verge of tears and panic, thinking I was going to get sick and die and who would take care of my kids? My kids! Would I infect my kids? Should I call my husband to come take the kids and move to Siberia...? It took me a moment to realize that The Way We Fall was a book I read, and not a newscast I'd watched. That's the mark of a good book in my opinion.

There were a few things that were a bit confusing at first. I was eventually able to figure them out, but it made it a little difficult to trudge through at first. I honestly stuck with it because, like I said, I love books written as letters or journals. I wanted to see how it played out, and I am SO glad I did!!

There is mild swearing throughout the book, but about five uses of heavy profanity.