Review: I Crawl Through It by A.S. King

I Crawl Through It by A.S. King
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 22nd, 2015
Purchase: Amazon

A boldly surreal novel from one of the best YA writers working today.

Four talented teenagers are traumatized-coping with grief, surviving trauma, facing the anxiety of standardized tests and the neglect of self-absorbed adults--and they'll do anything to escape the pressure. They'll even build an invisible helicopter, to fly far away to a place where everyone will understand them... until they learn the only way to escape reality is to fly right into it.

 My thoughts:
This is definitely a different type of book and one that won't necessarily work for everybody, but it did work for me.  I Crawl Through It isn't an in your face easy read, it's a read between the lines and quietly shouts at you type of book.

This story isn't really an easy one to describe.  It is told from three perspectives Stanzi, China, and Lansdale.  These three are all friends who in each their own way need help.  There's a lot of psychological things going on with each and every character and honestly I am not even sure if I fully grasped the depth of their needs.  The story takes us through numerous events like an invisible helicopter ride, bomb threats, and a naked bush man.  Even though I am not sure what each event really signified I can tell each one was a huge moment and I felt like I was meant to remember them.

So you can see this is not something I fully understand, but at the same time I felt its greatness.  There are always these hidden books that affect me and make me ponder the story and characters long after I put the book down.  A.S. King has managed to do this and I know I will still be thinking about this book next year and the years to come after that.  I find I might do a little digging and research to see if I can find out what the author was really trying to portray in her beautiful writing.

Like I said this book won't be for everyone.  I definitely had to be in the mood for this type of read because sometimes I want things screaming at me, but this time I really did want something a little more quiet that would make me think.  If you are looking for something different that takes care and time to understand this is for you.

On a side note for some reason this felt very Aussie to me and I am not sure why.  I kept thinking this took place in Australia, but I was so very wrong.  So if you like Aussie authors you just might like this as well.

4 snowflakes