As I Wake
By Elizabeth Scott
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publish Date: September 15, 2011
Format: Hardback, pp 304
Age Demographic: Young Adult
b&n // amazon
Ava is welcomed home from the hospital by a doting mother, lively friends, and a crush finally beginning to show interest. There's only one problem: Ava can't remember any of them - and can't shake the eerie feeling that she's not who they say she is.
Ava struggles to break through her amnesiac haze as she goes through the motions of high-school life, but the memories that surface take place in a very different world, where Ava and familiar-faced friends are under constant scrutiny and no one can be trusted. Ava doesn't know what to make of these visions, or of the boy who is at the center of them all, until he reappears in her life and offers answers . . . but only in exchange for her trust.
*Summary taken from Goodreads.
As I Wake is a powerfully emotional driven novel, that includes mystery, intrigue, and a plot that's filled with ambition and wonderful development. The idea that dreams can transport the main protagonist, Ava, to another world leaves the reader curious and wanting to find out more about these dreams and why she is having them.
Scott does a wonderful job of delivering an emotional punch that sometimes wrenches the heart. Ava has awakened and is not only dealing with the fact that she has amnesia, but also these dreams that she seems to be having as well. It's easy to see how she could be confused and a bit unfocused in some ways. It also helps the reader to symathize with her and to want her to have an outcome, that will be better for her. It was interesting to see how, Ava was almost two different people, in two different alternate places. Sometimes it worked, yet other times it seemed out of place and a bit off-putting. It was as if things were constantly changing and yet, instead of evolving and getting better each time, it made things all the more confusing.
While, I do think that there was some good character development, I'm not sure if the growth or minimal development was enough to showcase As I Wake in the best possible light. At times, some of the elements appeared to be working against each other, in a way that could leave the reader a bit confused as to what was happening, why certain things had changed, why Ava was so different in each alternate world, and various other things pertaining to the plot.
The writing style for As I Wake is unsually different, which is a good thing in my personal opinion. At times, it felt as if there was often a poetic flow to Scott's words. The way in, which Scott set-up and displayed her unique writing style in this novel, lent itself quite well in making it easy to read. It developed its own personal cadence, in a sense.
It is my personal opinion, that As I Wake can be a frustrating read for some readers, but I also think that it is a novel that possesses the ability to hold the reader's attention with its own personal mystery and ingrigue. It's different and unique in the fact, that it refuses to tie up life in tiny bits and if that's what reader's are looking for, then this will not be the book for them. There are simply questions asked and answered and unanswered. It's a simple understated look at life, dreams, and the underlying sense of something else just beneath the surface. Those are all wonderful qualities that As I Wake possess and Scott doesn't disappoint with her writing style and unique sense of complexitity to tell a story that compells the reader to continue reading and find out more or not find out more, as it may be.
The familiar and the un-familiar are explored and it's new territory for Ava and the reader as well, which is why I would recommend this book to anyone who has read prior Elizabeth Scott.
{ This ARC was provided by ATW ARC Tours, in exchange for an honest review which I have provided. No money exchanged hands, I review books for fun because I love to read. I am not interested in monetary gain. Any piece of this ARC that was/wasn't quoted, is not part of the finished product and should not be perceived as such.}
