Review: Opposites Attract!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 21, 2012
From the Chrysalis written by Karen E. Black is a coming of age dramatic novel about falling in love with your complete opposite. Liza is fourteen when we are first introduced to her, in love with butterflies, especially the monarch, and is shy and bookish. Dace is sixteen, wild and gorgeous and on his way to jail for manslaughter. They meet briefly before he is incarcerated and sparks fly. The story follows both of them over the next few years as they find out who they are and cling to the hope of being together. Oh, did I mention they are cousins?Much of the book is centered around the prison riot of 1971 in Maitland, Ontario. Dace, residing there at the time, is a key player in the riot. It was at this point of the novel that I fell in love with the character of Dace. His perseverance and resilience, whether making good or bad decisions, can't be matched. The riot is based on the real life Kingston Penitentiary Riot of April 1971, one of the largest riots in Canadian history. Mixed in among the fiction are some true details that lend a sense of believability to the plot. I could have happily read a complete novel based around this event and Ms. Black's characters in the prison. This was by far the most entertaining and fast paced section of the entire book. I was completely enthralled. It was also the part where we truly get to know the character of Dace. I never really enjoyed Liza so much. I'm not sure if it's because she comes across as being weak and simpering or maybe she wasn't given quite as much time to shine in the story. The part of the book where the reader could have learned a lot about her character, when she moved to Ireland during and after her parents' divorce, seemed glossed over and almost rushed. Her affair with an actor, pregnancy and subsequent abortion, were key points in her life yet seemed to be barely mentioned. All of the other characters play bit parts and never become substantial elements of the novel.One of the lovely parts of the novel is the love story between Dace and Liza. Hugely represented through letters they write to each other during Dace's incarceration, the relationship grows from infatuation into an obsessive love that threatens to destroy Liza.Overall I enjoyed reading this book. It has a bit of everything but is for the most part a story of love through good times and bad. Although I originally thought this to be a novel for young adults, after reading it I feel it is more for the older age group of young adults due to some raunchy parts.