Still Life With Tornado by A.S. King

3.5 Stars

Before I even begin, let me forewarn you that there is no way this is going to amount to any semblance of an informative review (so different than usual, right????). This is my fourth or fifth A.S. King book and at this point I pretty can only say . . . .



My first King experience was Everybody Sees the Ants (which I read back in the day when my reviews pretty much said Earth shattering stuff like “dis was gud”) and everything I’ve read since has been progressively more strange . . . . .



I fear if I start typing too many words I’ll end up typing all of them and spill the entire storyline here. Let me just say that I appreciated that although the propellant of the entire book was . . . .

“Maybe I’m snapping. Maybe I’ve already snapped and I’m coming back to real life. Maybe this is some sort of existential crisis.”

The catalyst behind Sarah seeing (literally, not figuratively) so many versions of herself wasn’t due to the oft used “superbads” like mental illness or rape, but another (triggery) item that impacts many families (as well as an additional item that explained why Sarah’s views on becoming an artist had done such a 180).

If you’re looking for a completely unique voice in young adult literature, A.S. King may be the author for you. 3.5 Stars, but rounded down because it took a pretty open mind (amazing that I sometimes have one of those, huh?) to ride this one out to the point where things started making sense.