Goodreads Summary
A heartfelt and wondrous debut about family,
fear, and skateboarding, that Karen Russell calls "A bruiser of a tale...
a death-defying coming-of-age story."
Will has never been outside, at least not since
he can remember. And he has certainly never gotten to know anyone other
than his mother, a fiercely loving yet wildly eccentric agoraphobe who panics
at the thought of opening the front door. Their world is rich and
fun-loving - full of art, science experiments, and music - and all confined to
their small house.
But Will's thirst for adventure can't be
contained. Clad in a protective helmet and unsure of how to talk to other
kids, he finally ventures outside. At his new school he meets Jonah, an
artsy loner who introduces Will to the high-flying freedoms of skateboarding.
Together, they search for a missing local boy, help a bedraggled
vagabond, and evade a dangerous bootlegger. The adventure is more than
Will ever expected, pulling him far from the confines of his closed-off world
and into the throes of early adulthood, and all the risks that everyday life
offers.
In buoyant, kinetic prose, Michael Christie has
written an emotionally resonant and keenly observed novel about mothers and
sons, fears and uncertainties, and the lengths we'll go for those we love.
My Thoughts
There were things I liked about this book and
things I didn't like as well. I was very interested in reading this book
when I read the summary but it didn't seem to hold my interest. Reading
felt more like a chore than fun pastime, which makes me sad, so it took me
quite a while to read this one.
The beginning of the book was super slow, the
middle got pretty good, but then the end seemed rushed and anticlimactic.
There were too many story lines mixed in and I just couldn't keep up!
And then it just ended...as if the author was told to wrap it up.
If I Fall, If I Die certainly wasn't the worst
book I have ever read but it wasn't my kind of book at all. I probably will not
be recommending this book to many people but I wouldn't mind trying another
book by Michael Christie if he writes one. His writing style was good, I
just didn't enjoy this story.
*Note: I received a copy of this book from
Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review.
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