Beautiful Writing Is Everything/When We Collided Review

When We Collided 

Emery Lord

Bloomsbury

April 5, 2016

352 pages

Spoiler Level in Review- Very Mild

Why I Read- I was curious what I would think about this book after reading both positive and negative and negative reviews

Star Review- 3/5

When We Collided is Emery Lord’s newest young adult contemporary book. I had both good and bad reviews about this book, so I went into it with relatively low expectations. Overall, the book was enjoyable, but it had some problems and was not very remarkable. When We Collided was neither an excellent or a disappointing book.

When We Collided follows a sixteen (almost seventeen) year old girl named Vivi. Vivi has just arrived at Verona Cove with her mother from Seattle. Vivi just wants to forget all the bad memories of her past when she meets Jonah. Jonah’s dad has just died, his mom never comes out of her room, and his older sister is off at college. This means that Jonah and his brother Silas are left to take care of their three younger siblings. After meeting Vivi, however, Jonah’s life slowly comes back in place.

Emery Lord has the most beautiful writing. Between her word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, and thoughts, it was a pleasure to read. One image that really stood out to me was when Vivi talked about being a butterfly and probably once having wings. “Sometimes I bend my arms behind my back and feel the protruding shoulder blades-technically the scalpula, but they feel like broken off wings. Everyone thinks we evolved from apes, but I’m not totally convinced that we didn’t have wings, at least some of us.” Doesn’t that put gorgeous imagery in your head? The writing in When We Collided was elegant and thought provoking.

Contrary to what I expected, When We Collided was not a romance. There were some romantic aspects, however this book was really about healing. Both Jonah and Vivi were recovering from a tragic experience in their past. When they meet each other, it was easier for them to heal. I  was really happy about the ending and how it supported that theme. “Maybe we were dying planets, Jonah, being drawn into darkness. When we collided, we bounced each other back into orbit. And now have to do that-we have to return to our own paths because that is what we gave each other.” It was lovely to watch Jonah and Vivi develop and heal together.

When We Collided was the story of Vivi and Jonah. It was nice that the book was equally about both characters, not just mostly one or the other. That being said, neither of the two main characters were very remarkable. I most likely will not remember Jonah or Vivi in a couple months. That does not mean I didn’t like the characters though. Vivi had this amazing imagination that was so much fun to read. She was so creative and bubbly, but she could be extremely self centered. Sometimes Vivi just didn’t care about what Jonah felt. Something really special about When We Collided was the voice. You could always tell which chapters were Vivi’s and which chapters were Jonah’s just by the writing.

Overall, When We Collided was an interesting and fun book, but it did not have anything that made it stand out. The characters were likable but not special. The writing was really pretty, however. What did you like about When We Collided? I would love to know.

Currently Reading- The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

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