Review: a moving story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 9, 2012
Cover:The green grass in the cover gives off a lighter feel to the book (despite it being a hole with a coffin in it) in contrast to the book's darker tones.Writing:(4/5) The writing is very simple with not much detail and descriptions. At first I didn't like that, but later I realized that the simple writing was best used to convey the dark and harshness of the book. If more detailed writing was used, the book would have been too brutal or graphic. I also mixed up who was saying what, a couple of times, as it stops giving an indication as they started getting deeper into a conversation.Setting:(5/5) The book mainly went back and forth between the caravan park where Aaron lives together with his Mam and the funeral home. Seeing those two separate places really struck a chord that the caravan park was his past with his darkness and the funeral home was his future and hope. These two settings were very important and had a big role in the book.Plot:(4/5) At first it was hard to get into the book and I didn't know where it was going, but it wasn't until the end that I really started to appreciate it. Through the story we get clues about Aaron, who he is and his past, when those clues finally fell into place in the end, I was hit with a wave of emotion so strong that I started crying. The book at first seemed pointlessly sad and tragic but it isn't until the end when you decide to stick around, that you see it's a powerful moving story about escaping from darkness and finding hope and a way to go on.Main Character:(5/5) Aaron from the beginning was very broken, we didn't know exactly how it happened but we knew he had scars, which have haunted him all his life. It was so very hard for him to let go of his nightmares, but as the story progresses, you see him wanting to move forward, to hope and to have a future. What's so very admirable about Aaron was that through all the hell he's been through, he wants and tries to become a better person. In the end I believe the people who can appreciate life and are the kindest of all are those who have felt the deepest grief, horror and pain but still try so hard to be a better person, exactly like Aaron.Other Characters:(5/5) I loved the other characters, there were few, but all were central and important to the story. The funeral director, John Barton, was one of my favourites, he continued to surprise me and bit by bit I found out more about his character, just when I thought I had him figured out. John's young daughter Skye is sassy, talkative and precocious and exactly the right person, besides John, that help Aaron move forward. Mam raised Aaron since he was small and is mentally imbalanced; slowly we start discovering her relationship with Aaron.Other Comments:I would definitely not recommend this book to younger readers, only older teens, as it has a lot of darker themes. Also if you're interested, I actually did an interview the author, which you can find here.Overall:(23/25) The Dead I Know is a moving story about breaking from your darkness and scars and finding hope despite everything.