YA Book Review:
Upon Broken Wings
Although this book’s beginning is hauntingly depressing, taken as a whole it is inventively brilliant, and ends with an uplifting message. I felt as if I were reading a cross between literary fiction and commercial fiction, stuck between an art form and a book for entertainment, much as the characters Andrew and Kiernan are trapped between damnation and salvation.
Upon Broken Wings
Although this book’s beginning is hauntingly depressing, taken as a whole it is inventively brilliant, and ends with an uplifting message. I felt as if I were reading a cross between literary fiction and commercial fiction, stuck between an art form and a book for entertainment, much as the characters Andrew and Kiernan are trapped between damnation and salvation.
Kiernan’s younger brother,
fourteen-year-old Casey, spins a tale of utter sorrow and redemption by looking
back in time with the help of omniscient angels. Andrew, a fourteen-year-old
boy with autism, loses everyone he ever loved and is left alone in a cruel
world with only Kiernan who secretly cares about him. Yet Kiernan’s love for
Andrew comes much too late and with a high price. Bound in separate
simultaneous suicides, Andrew must recall and come to terms with his past while
in purgatory and Kiernan must find his way back to life while struggling away
from a demon in the borderlands, for he is not quite dead nor alive. Being
bound, Andrew must find the one thing that eluded him in life and use it to save
Kiernan’s life: hope.
First, this book is mainly for
those who aren’t sensitive to depressing or serious topics. The first third of
this book is utterly full of darkness, despair, and social topics such as
autism, homosexuality, death, suicide, alcoholism, bullying, and hate crimes. But
this was necessary to show how hard it would later be for Andrew and Kiernan to
find hope. It is very authentic when it comes to these topics, well-research or
experienced. And although this book is starkly realistic, you have to be open
to fantasy or religion to enjoy this book. The world building is phenomenal and
packed with symbolism--landscapes of purgatory as beautifully serene,
borderlands as terrifyingly dry. Also, this book is not for the untrained
reader. Personally, I didn’t find it difficult to figure out the timeline, who
was whom, or the shifts into other characters’ heads, but I can see how some
readers might get lost. The narrator often uses foreshadowing to help readers
figure out what is going on while it cushions the blow since readers can
surmise what events could follow.
Although some might have to read
carefully, this unique narrative style is actually what I liked most about this
book: a boy from the fringes of the action telling a story but given direct
information from celestial beings. Casey’s first-person account gives readers a
personal experience and yet we get that all omniscient god-like detail of
others’ thoughts. The style of the prose itself was incredible as well, pushing
the boundaries towards literary fiction—almost modern in its straightforward
tone and yet post-modern in its disjointed, shifting narration. And yet, there
are these times of heightened emotion, with poetic descriptions and profound
realizations that shake you to your core, mind blown.
If you like a cross between
fantasy and reality and don’t quake in the face of sadness, then this book is a
must read. It is a mind-blowing book you’ll likely never forget.
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