Author: Emily Henry
Genre: young adult, fantasy, time travel, psychology, romance
Pub Date: January 26th, 2016
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 396
Source: Purchased
Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.
Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start... until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.
That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.
Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“love is giving the world away, and being loved is having the whole world to give.”
i knew this book was going to become a favorite at page 5. yes, it's that good. plus, that cover is GORGEOUS.
lets begin with our main character, natalie. she sees this "hallucination" who calls herself grandma. grandma tells her old stories, and tells her to pay attention because she will need to know/remember them someday. the stories originate from ancient-indian-tribe tales and are woven into the story beautifully. they're very interesting and it's so cool to see how they connect to parts of the story! (maybe its just me, but i LOVE making connections like these in books!)
the relationships in this book are like none other.
MEGAN. the best friend. i want a friendship like megan and natalie's. they were both always there for each other, and megan is the only one who really seems to want to understand what natalie is going through. even being miles apart, they have one of the strongest friendships i have ever seen. i remember reading something about emily where she said she based their friendships off of one of her own, (i believe this was in the back of the book?) and i think that its amazing that she chose to incorporate that into natalie's story!
BEAU. the boyfriend. piano skills. accent. need i say more? it was clear he and natalie were meant for each other from the beginning, and their journeys together throughout the story are just perfection.
GRANDMA. probably my favorite side character in the book, even though we only see her at the beginning and end. she's the one who tells ancient stories to natalie, and this is what ultimately ends up helping her piece everything together. i just loved her so much, she was so sweet, so helpful, so supportive, and reminded me of my own grandma!
the psychology and time travel concepts of this book are seriously incredible. emily creates it and writes about in such a way that it keeps you on the edge of your seat and constantly wanting more. the way natalie and her psychologist get down to the reason for her visions is wonderfully detailed and makes me super excited to take AP psychology next year to learn about this kind of stuff! (ex. the reason you dream about flying, or what it means when you see the kind of stuff natalie does)
i was extremely happy i was able to keep up with the pace at which things were being explained. it's a lot to take in, with the psychology and time travel. these are not easy topics to write about, especially in the same book, but emily did a fantastic job at keeping a steady pace. she described it so well that the reader could tell what was happening at all times. this is a major problem i have with a lot of books, i get behind and confused and get frustrated. but not with this book.
on to the time travel: this version of time travel, and there being more than one world really brought this book to life. it also helped the reader see the connection between natalie and beau, and what they're each currently going through a lot better. the idea of being able to switch worlds? how cool is that? and the fact that there can be two different versions of the same person? GIVE ME MORE.
last but not least, THE ENDING. (don't worry, no spoilers) i loved the way emily wrapped the story up. it felt complete, but still left you wanting more. i actually messaged emily on twitter when i finished reading it to ask about the ending. i wasn't exactly sure what happened. this was her reply: "i actually intended to keep the end open so that the reader has to experience it with natalie and decide what they believe happens." how freaking awesome is that??
to wrap up this review, the love that split the world is by far one of the best debuts i have EVER read. i fell in love with this book, the world, the characters, the concept, the cover, and everything else. the way she wraps the story up left me wanting more. if she writes another book, i'll surely be buying it.
what are your thoughts on the love that split the world? lets discuss!
No comments:
Post a Comment