This book is truly one of kind, I have not read anything with a plot even remotely close. So to tell you a little about it, it is about a small town boy named Ben who is getting ready to go to college in California on a full track scholarship. The town he grew up in is a mining town called Gypsum, Nevada, named after the substance that they mine, but the mine has been shut down for a few months and all the residents are moving to new places and after summer ends, the town will become a ghost town and cease to exist. Then we have Lala, she is a Romani Gypsy and she is with her family in their trailer on the highway in between Gypsum and a festival called the Burning Man which is a popular week long festival in Nevada. Lala and the women in the family earn money by telling fortunes with Tarot cards and Palmistry. The date for her arranged marriage is fast approaching and she is reluctant to live the life she is expected to.
It was a very unique idea that intrigued me when I read the blurb about it, but honestly it was the cover that made me request it. The girl in the picture just drew me in, walking along the road in her sandals, skirt blown behind her by a light wind, face obscured bu the setting, or rising sun, it is just really beautiful and I want to be that girl in the picture.
This story has a lot of really deep imbedded meaning, and I think that the author is really trying to tell the reader something. After finishing this book I am still not quite sure about how I feel about it. The entire time I was reading it I felt sad for Ben and all the people of his town. I have always found the idea of ghost towns hard to really comprehend, how a place can just stop existing really. And poor Lala, I have a little knowledge of Gypsy/traveler culture, mainly from reality tv and who knows how real that really is, but just reading how oppressed she is made me really hurt for her, no woman should feel like that, ever. The book is written from dual perspectives, Lala's and Ben's and I always love reading from different perspectives, especially when they overlap so you are reading the same moment through two different sets of eyes.
This story really taught me a lot, and to understand what I mean, you honestly need to read the book because there is a deep underlying message to the whole thing.
Overall I would give Burning a 4/5 mainly because I would have liked it to be a little longer. But overall the story was absolutely incredible, and even though I was not satisfied with how it ended, it would have been untrue to Lala if it would have been written any other way.
I think this would also be the great basis for a screenplay for an indie film. I normally don't like books to movies but I think if done right this one would really captivate a lot of people and make a great film.
I cannot wait to read Elana Arnold's other book Sacred, and the second book in that series, Splendor is set to be released November 2013
This incredible story will be released June 11th 2013 in Hardcover and ebook, please take the time to read this amazing story.
And a big thank you to Random House Children's Books who granted me an advanced reader ebook copy of this incredible story.
As always thank you all for taking the time to read this review!
Peace, Love, and Books
-Lady Literary <3
Please note, I do not own this image, as I got the book as an ebook I was not able to obtain my own image so this is from the authors
It was a very unique idea that intrigued me when I read the blurb about it, but honestly it was the cover that made me request it. The girl in the picture just drew me in, walking along the road in her sandals, skirt blown behind her by a light wind, face obscured bu the setting, or rising sun, it is just really beautiful and I want to be that girl in the picture.
This story has a lot of really deep imbedded meaning, and I think that the author is really trying to tell the reader something. After finishing this book I am still not quite sure about how I feel about it. The entire time I was reading it I felt sad for Ben and all the people of his town. I have always found the idea of ghost towns hard to really comprehend, how a place can just stop existing really. And poor Lala, I have a little knowledge of Gypsy/traveler culture, mainly from reality tv and who knows how real that really is, but just reading how oppressed she is made me really hurt for her, no woman should feel like that, ever. The book is written from dual perspectives, Lala's and Ben's and I always love reading from different perspectives, especially when they overlap so you are reading the same moment through two different sets of eyes.
This story really taught me a lot, and to understand what I mean, you honestly need to read the book because there is a deep underlying message to the whole thing.
Overall I would give Burning a 4/5 mainly because I would have liked it to be a little longer. But overall the story was absolutely incredible, and even though I was not satisfied with how it ended, it would have been untrue to Lala if it would have been written any other way.
I think this would also be the great basis for a screenplay for an indie film. I normally don't like books to movies but I think if done right this one would really captivate a lot of people and make a great film.
I cannot wait to read Elana Arnold's other book Sacred, and the second book in that series, Splendor is set to be released November 2013
This incredible story will be released June 11th 2013 in Hardcover and ebook, please take the time to read this amazing story.
And a big thank you to Random House Children's Books who granted me an advanced reader ebook copy of this incredible story.
As always thank you all for taking the time to read this review!
Peace, Love, and Books
-Lady Literary <3
Please note, I do not own this image, as I got the book as an ebook I was not able to obtain my own image so this is from the authors