Thin Space by Jody Cassella--A Book Review (Guest Post)

Please welcome my awesome blogging friend, Cait! :) Read her bio (located at the bottom of this post) to find her blog, Twitter account, and Goodreads page. Take it away, Cait!



REVIEW:

Oh my gosh…wow. I was going to start with a long sentence about why this book had my rapt attention and how I was deeply and emotionally involved in the journey of Marsh as – But then, I though, “NAH. LET THE FEELS SPEAK.” So you get “Oh my gosh…wow!!!” And a bunch of exclamation marks (like this: !!!!!)

I LOVED this book! (Surprise.) The combination of relatable characters, freakishly good writing, and a plot to die for (literally, in some cases), I was in love. This book got ticks in ALL the boxes. (‘Scuse me while I hug it.)

Okay, so the writing voice. Voice is a really hard thing to capture in books. I feel some books overdo the “teen tone”, while others get a good medium. But THIN SPACE rocked the voice aspect. I loved this writing! It flowed out of Marsh like the awkward screwed up teen he was. Not easy to pull off. PLUS, this book dealt with grief. It is dang HARD to write grief properly. There’s such a fine line between spending a book mopping or being too unemotionally affected. Again, THIN SPACE got an A+. Marsh’s balance between recovery from grief and just everyday thinking was perfect. Sad, but perfect. (He had right to be sad.)

Characters? Maybe I harp on too much about characters…but I LOVE them. They’re the flesh and blood of a book (literally, okay?) and if they’re flat or boring, then the book is lost (R.I.P. cookery books). Marsh is the narrator. He’s 16-years-old, just lost his identical twin in a car accident, and he’s in a fog. Of grief. His voice is tragic, awkward, and so poignant I honest-to-goodness thought he could be a real person. Maddie is the new neighbour. She’s cute and understanding, a soft kind of personality. But she has this freaking-annoying-way-too-much-testosterone brother who wants to beat Marsh’s head in for talking to Maddie. I dislike the brother (Sam) by the way. After the accident and Marsh dived into nothingness, Marsh lost most of his friends. People gave him space, but at the same time, they judged him. It’s so sad,

but it’s so realistic.

I tossed up what genre this book would be too: paranormal? Contemporary? It’s a contemporary feel, but with the mystical element of “thin space”, which is (in a nutshell) a “portal” between this world and the dead one. You can only find it in places where someone has been born AND died (not the same person, though). And you can only find it with bare feet. Hence Marsh spends half the book sliding around barefoot. At the end of the book, I honestly believe this IS a contemporary. It’s about dealing with grief and psychological escapes. It’s about creating your own healing as well as dealing with things. Is there such a thing as “thin space”? Maybe if you believe there is.

Now why are you still here?! GO GET A COPY AND READ IT.



Cait is burdened with glorious purpose: read all the books. She blogs (a lot) at Notebook Sisters and fangirls (a lot) about the Avengers. It’s a fabulous combination. You can find her on Twitter and Goodreads. Bring your cape.