Published: 8th September 2015
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 360
Format: Paperback
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.
Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn, it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with mischief glinting in his eye.
Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and impromptu road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives.
As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.
Intense is the best word to describe this book. When I finished this it hung over me like a blanket and I looked for ages to find another book to read next that was the polar opposite to this because it was SO INTENSE.
But that isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it.
It has you on the edge of your seat in a way, not because of the action or drama or adventure, but because you are adamant something bad is going to happen to these poor kids!
There are some strong themes and issues dealt with in this book. There’s depression, self harm, drug use, homophobia and bullying. Not to mention everything else. I loved this book but it was heavy. It was so much to handle, so much happens, so much doesn’t happen; it’s consuming.
Scelsa uses three different points of view, one per character. You can claim Jeremy is the main character because he gets the first person perspective and first introduction, and I found myself thinking the same thing, but Scelsa gives them equal weighting in her own way.
I think second person works so well for Sebby. I can’t imagine his story being told any other way. It’s just what the reader needs to understand and see his POV.
Mira’s life is explored in third person, it suits her too and without analysing it too much, I really think Scelsa’s choices suit them remarkably well
While there is a lot of intensity and dramatics in a way, the thing I found great about this was that there was hope. Always hope. And I think that that is the best thing to be left with after a book; imperfections, not getting the solutions to everything, but left with a little bit of hope to cling to.
Scelsa captures Jeremy’s loneliness so well. You understand wholly his fear that his new friends will leave, not to mention the fear of going back to school and his uncertainty about being thrust into the world without his consent.
The writing is so well done you get inside the head of characters, even with the differen points of view, you still get inside their mind and you understand them completely and that is in part why this book is intense, you really understand these characters thoughts and feelings and intricacies of their lives. You see their fears and hopes and lives before you and you want nothing but for them to be ok.
I’ve seen this be compared to Perks of being A Wallflower and I can kind of see where they’re coming from but at the same time I think this is different from that. Similar yes, but also different. I adored Wallflower and I loved this, but to compare them does neither of them justice.
You can purchase Fans of the Impossible Life via the following
Lost in a Good Book 