Book: The Walls Around Us
Author: Nova Ren Suma
Pages: 336
Read On: iPad
How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days
Plot Summary: On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.
On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.
Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries . . .
What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?
General Thoughts: This is the second book I am reading by this author. The first being Imaginary Girls, which I read last year and reviewed it HERE. If you read the review, you'll see that I had some mixed feelings with that book. The only reason I picked up another book by the same author is that I loved her writing and her style of story-telling. Plus the plots of all of Nova Ren Suma books sound amazing.
Things I Liked:
1. The writing was beautiful. I really enjoyed the author's writing style.
2. The premise of this book was really interesting as was it's set-up, a Juvenile Detention Center.
3, The book is told from two perspectives mainly, Amber locked up in the Detention Center serving time for killing her stepfather and Violet a talented ballerina who comes from a very privileged background. So two very different and almost poled apart perspectives and this made for interesting reading.
4. Then there was Orianna. A prodigiously talented ballerina with a bright future that takes a terribly wrong turn and she is damned for a life for a heinous double murder. I really liked Orianna. Honestly, she was the only likable character in the whole book and the only one I had any connection to and the only one I was rooting for.
5. The life behind the walls of this prison was also interesting to read about. All the girls who were serving time and thier back stories were also riveting.
6. The nature of friendships and the complexity of super close friendships is always interesting to read about.
7. There are elements of magical realism in this book and it is done well.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. This book gave me a headache. A real one. A bad one! It was wayyyyyyyyyyy too confusing for it's own good. For most part of the book I wasn't sure what the hell was going on...OK..later on things cleared up or rather I got used to book but any book that hurts my head is just not cool!
2. Orianna just didn't make sense to me sometimes. She was sweet and naive but I don't think we really got to know her. Or see her state of mind...we got some glimpses of it but I felt like I didn't really get to know her.
3. I found a lot of things missing in this book...for instance did Orianna ever proclaim her innocence? Why didn't she speak up at the trial? Why take such a chance on your life? I get that she possibly didn't have the best lawyer, given that she didn't come from money. But it just didn't add up. Also where was her dad? Why would she so easily take the fall? Did she mean to? So many things were lest unanswered.
4. The ending...was just...what the hell?!! Truth be told I am still not sure what happened and how it happened and how it makes any sense. And guess what? That's how it's supposed to be! I am just NOT A FAN of books that do this. I am just not a fan of vague endings. And books that leave you with a ton of unanswered questions.
5. Amber...I sorta saw through her and the twist. So that was a letdown and a half.
Rating: 2.5/5
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