It seems like just last week I was in the same position… oh wait, I was! Here I am, back with another (lovely) Irish Banana Book Tour. I was lucky enough to receive an e-ARC of Away We Go from the lovely Greenwillow Books for review as part of this tour! Although this is not my first Irish Banana Tour, this is my first time kicking one off (and I’m very excited to do it)!
Review:
Title: Away We Go
Author: Emil Ostrovski
Publishing: April 5th 2016 by Greenwillow Books
Source: Publisher (and Irish Banana Book Tours)
Format: e-ARC
Genre: YA; Dystopia; LGBT+
Westing is not your typical school. For starters, you have to have one very important quality in order to be admitted—you have to be dying. Every student at Westing has been diagnosed with PPV, or the Peter Pan Virus. No one is expected to live to graduation.
What do you do when you go to a school where no one has a future? Noah Falls, his girlfriend Alice, and his best friend Marty spend their time drinking, making out, and playing video games on awaywego.com. But when an older boy named Zach (who Noah may or may not be in love with) invites Noah and Marty to join his secret Polo Club, the lives of both boys change as they struggle to find meaning in their shortened existence.
With an innovative format that includes interstitial documents, such as flyers, postcards, and handwritten notes, Away We Go is a funny, honest look at first love and tragic heartbreak.
Thoughts:
I probably should begin with just the fact that this is my first time in a couple years reading an e-ARC and it most certainly took me a little while to readjust to the experience. When I participate in blog tours I try and make myself as flexible as possible for both the organizer and the publisher. That being said, I’m just more of a paper book person, but reading this e-ARC was not bad AT ALL (surprisingly).
I first found out about Away We Go via the tour invitation, but it was the enticing blurb that really had me itching to read it. I may or may not have focused on much else past the Peter Pan part (I’m a huge fan) and although the book was not at all what I was expecting, I couldn’t help but enjoy it. On a lot of levels, my entire reading experience with Away We Go reminded me of the complexity featured in Magonia which I read last summer and immediately concluded that I wanted to reread it. I almost feel the same way with Away We Go. A lot of the prose is supplemented with illustrations/diagrams/designs, some of which were not finalized at the time that I was proved with my ARC, and thus excluded from my edition. I have complete faith that this materials would have heightened my reading experience (although I got this gist of most them even without direct visuals provided).
Aside from the mechanics of the novel presented, the general style and “moving parts” you might say of Away We Go also reminded me of Magonia. At the start of the novel, you are in all honesty given very little context about the Peter Pan Virus, the particular situations in which the characters are in, and their general settings. However, in a non-linear format Ostrovski pulls together elements from the beginning and end of the timeline, explaining in a haphazard not-quite-back-and-forth fashion the logistics of the semi dystopian world of Away We Go.
Away We Go is one of those novels that if you aren’t paying attention can easily get away from you. There aren’t a lot of characters, but you sort of have to keep track of them and their details (same goes for the infrastructure of the Westing school and society in general). Even though the entire premise is so far removed from my everyday life, I had no trouble AT ALL connected with Noah (our protagonist). Although being faced with terminal death is not exactly something that evyerday people grapple with (not to marginalize those that do, however, and my heart goes out to you), uncertainly regarding life after death is prevalent in society. In addition to that, Ostovski artfully wove in some rather mundane typicalities of teenage life, particularly relationships and sexuality.
The ending of Away We Go was rather ambiguous, the leaves me thinking of the similar powerful ending of The Giver, and thus I find myself ever so satisfied.
Final Thoughts:
Away We Go is not for the faint of heart. It’s a lot of work to read this book, both emotionally and just regarded mental preparedness but I most certainly recommend you give it a try. The complex nature of the dystopia and well planned political structures bring instant comparisons to Unwind, while the general multi-leveled complexity brings Magonia to mind. Away We Go, however, is on of those YA books that brings in a ton of character development and relatable human experiences into a sci-fy/dystopian experiences…which is REALLY cool. Read for the obscurity, for the Peter Pan references, and for the LGBTQ+ visibility.
So now you want to buy Away We Go?
Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository
Or want to win it? Here’s a Giveaway:
3 Finished Copies of Away We Go (US Only)
About Emil Ostrovski:
I’m twenty-five.
Rather than give you a witty, self-deprecating account of the trials and tribulations of my twenty-five year old, suburban, upper-middle class, went-to-a-girl’s-liberal-arts-college life, I’ll admit that I haven’t really done anything much worth reading about.
So in lieu of providing you with my biography, I will recommend that you read Desmond Tutu’s. Here.
Why Desmond Tutu?
Well, I’ve always liked his name.
Week 1:
4/4: Books In Her Head – Review
4/5: Such a Novel Idea – Playlist
4/6: Novels and Necklaces – Review
4/7: Words Like Silver – Mood Board
4/8: It Starts At Midnight – Review
Week 2:
4/11: Cover Contessa – Guest Post
4/12: Reading Is Better with Cupcakes – Review
4/13: Swoony Boys Podcast – Top 10
4/14: Bibliphilia – Review
4/15: The Story Sanctuary – Q&A
Thanks again to Irish Banana Book Tours for organizing this, and also Green Willow for the e-ARC.
