Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Review: Safekeeping by Karen Heese

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 304
Source: Received from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: September 18, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

Radley’s parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.

Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley’s plane lands in New Hampshire, she’s been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren’t there.

Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn’t have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . .

Illustrated with 50 of her own haunting and beautiful photographs, this is a vision of a future America that only Karen Hesse could write: real, gripping, and deeply personal.

My Review:

The idea of this book was really intriguing to me, an assassination on the president and a new government in power, it sounded a little dystopian like to me. What I got out of this book was completely different from what I expected. Throughout the entire book I felt like I was a fly on the wall watching Radley do everything and listening to some of her conversations with people. Every little action and thought is described to the reader.

The main idea of the story is following Radley through her journey to find her parents after this big disaster. What I did like is that this is a story about survival in the hardest of times. There are curfews everywhere and wherever you go there is danger lurking in the dark. The story really details what it's like when you have to survive out in the streets, getting food wherever you can find it.

The pictures that go along with the story are beautiful, Heese has an amazing talent for photography, and it was interesting to have a story with real pictures beside the passages. I fund that many of the pictures did not fit the story though, there were many randomly placed pictures of flowers and animals and they didn't really fit the story. At times they seemed to be just added in for no reason at all.

For the most part I found Radley's journey interesting and inspiring, watching her get through the toughest of times. But this book just wasn't for me, this story was just the experience Radley had, and there was not much of a story to it. I was hoping for a little more from what I read from the synopsis.

1 comment:

  1. I've read another book by Hesse for school a long while back, and I don't remember liking it too much. This one sounds a bit more mature, though, and I do like the idea of a story accompanied by photography.

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