REVIEW for Torn Away

Thank you to the wonderful people at Hachette Book Group for sending me this book.

TITLE:           Torn Away

AUTHOR:      Jennifer Brown

GENRE:         YA

RATING:   

I have read absolutely everything this author has ever written and I have loved, loved every book, which is why I was absolutely thrilled to read Torn Away.

First off, I love the title, it truly describes this book - both physically and emotionally.  Having said that, I also have to admit that this was one of the hardest fiction books I have ever read.  I am use to this kind of raw and real life in non fiction, but rarely in fiction, so this was both an engrossing and difficult book to read (and to put down).

Jersey has a fight with her mother (as ALL YA do) and that is the last memory she has of her mother and her little sister, both gone in a instant when a twister devastates not only Jersey's town, but also her life.

I live in Montreal and MOST natural disasters don't really happen here, we don't really get twisters or anything like that, however, in 1998 we did suffer through an Ice Storm that was devastating in many ways, the least of which being that we are simply not use to dealing with natural disasters.  I remember looking around downtown Montreal which was empty except for army trucks and soldiers and thinking "i feel like I am in a war zone".  I was fortunate, I did not lose anyone I love. But I can relate to Jersey's descriptions when she talks about coming out from under the debris and feeling shell shocked.  It must be horrible to then discover that you lost your family, especially since the author makes a point of describing Jersey's little sister - poignant.

As with all of Brown's book - the center character is always emotion and she writes this one perfectly, making it impossible to put this book down, all the while feeling a bunch of emotions that kind of reach out of the page and grab you.

I loved, loved this book. Another winner for Jennifer Brown.