Audiobook Review – The Year We Fell From Space by Amy Sarig King, Narrated by Stephanie Willing (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Magical Realism
Length: 5 hours and 26 minutes
Publisher: Scholastic Audio
Release Date: October 15, 2019
ASIN: B07WJV36N1
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Liberty Johansen is going to change the way we look at the night sky. Most people see the old constellations, the things they’ve been told to see. But Liberty sees new patterns, pictures, and possibilities. She’s an exception. Some other exceptions: Her dad, who gave her the stars. Who moved out months ago and hasn’t talked to her since. Her mom, who’s happier since he left, even though everyone thinks she should be sad and lonely. And her sister, who won’t go outside their house.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on audiobook from my library.
Thoughts: This was a very well done book about a middle grade/pre-teen, Liberty, going through a divorce and dealing with all that entails in a very slightly magical realism A.S. King kind of way. I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done.
I do think this is an awesome book for someone going through a divorce or for someone trying to understand or help someone going through divorce. It is beautifully written, with a lot of profound insights and comments. It is one of those excellent books that assumes middle grade age readers are intelligent, which I applaud. I also liked the way everything is related to outer space. The magical realism comes in when Liberty finds a meteorite that seems to talk to her.
Unfortunately, I just found this kind of sad and heartbreaking. It does have hopeful notes to it as well, but I didn’t love reading it. It is a heavy subject matter and just left me feeling depressed. So, just be aware this is about divorce, depression, heartache and anger and it is pretty depressing. It is hard to read about a situation where everyone is trying their best but still being ripped apart.
I do love that the parents are trying to be responsible about how they deal with their kids and the divorce. However, they end up trying to keep too much from their kids in an effort to shelter them. Some of this was very frustrating to me, kids are not dumb and I never under stand why people try to treat them like they are. The whole divorce is doubly complicated by the fact that their dad suffers from severe depression. It is very well done, I just didn’t enjoy it much and I wasn’t in the mood for such a sad read.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this is a very well done book about pre-teens dealing with divorce. It is beautifully written with themes about outer space and some subtle magical realism. Make sure you are in the mood for something like this when you pick it up. It is an emotional and heartbreaking read that left me feeling more depressed than hopeful.
