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Saturday 4 July 2020

THE WALLS AROUND US by Nova Ren Suma

The Walls Around Us
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another book I've had on my Paperwhite for quite a while and thought it was time to get stuck into it. The story is so strange and so interesting that before I realised it, I'd hit 20% and didn't want to stop.

Amber is in a correctional facility for girls under the age of eighteen. Violet is a gifted ballerina on her way to Juilliard. Ori is the one who connects these two via secrets, lies and violence...

Yikes! I didn't expect all of that! 😳

As soon as I started reading, I fell into the lyrical writing style because it's hypnotic and so beautiful it hooked me in to the point where I couldn't wait to find out more about these girls and their many (many) problems.

At the beginning, there's virtually no dialogue. Something that usually pushes me out of the story. But not here, because the thoughts and actions of these characters was so engaging.

It's also a very strange tale, because just when you get comfortable with each personal story all that familiarity gets pulled out from under you until you start asking yourself: what's really going on here? It's such a unique ghost story that slowly peels back the layers by thrusting a bunch of characters at you.

The more you read, the more the pieces fall into place and start revealing the very twisted puzzle beneath. These narrators aren't exactly reliable, which is why it takes a while for the reader to find their groove. And once you do, it's too late because you're already hooked.

I enjoyed the multiple POVs, but Violet is a special kind of menace. Talk about a sugary exterior concealing a rotten core. I can't say more about her because it would be too easy to slip into spoiler territory, but I can definitely say that I didn't like her. At all.

Asides from the lovely writing and the captivating way everything the unreliable narrators reveal unravels, I loved how the story turned out. I didn't expect that ending, but it made everything so worthwhile.

This is such an intriguing tale about friendship rotting through the years, obsessive ambition bordering on psychotic, innocence stolen away from girls via violence, and ultimate redemption.

I'm so glad I finally read this haunting book because I loved it.


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