Monday, January 16, 2012

Fracture by Megan Miranda



Fracture by Megan Miranda
Release Date –  Jan 17, 2012
Publisher Website –  Bloomsbury/Walker and Company
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages -  264 pages
My Rating- 8/10
**Obtained from publisher and Netgalley for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis
Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine — despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it? 
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?
If you were given another chance at life what would you want to do with it? Would you waste it? Live life to the fullest? What about those who were suffering, would you want to help them? And if so how?

Megan Miranda has written a deeply thought provoking, well written, intense read. It was one of those books that was mysterious, and did not follow a predictable plot. It kept me guessing, and that is really refreshing.

Delaney was pretty much a mess. She’s died, been in a coma and is having to adjust all over again. She’s basically trying to keep her head above water when everyone and everything around her is trying to pull her back in. She has guilt for what her accident has done to her best friend and her parents who are literally falling apart. She can barely take time for herself to adjust because she’s too busy dealing with everyone else.

Decker is a character that I rooted for, even if I did want to punch him a lot of the time. He’s upset about his role in the accident, and carries a lot of guilt. The problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to interact with Delaney since the accident, and Decker is one of them. She needs him and he pushes away from her.

The reactions of her parents, Decker and others felt really real. How do you react to someone who has went through what Delaney went through, especially if you are feeling partly responsible?

Troy enters the picture and he’s mysterious, intense, and he can relate to Delaney. He has gone through something so similar to her, and the bond is pretty instant. However, this is where the story starts to dive into the darker aspects.

Delaney ends up with a unique side effect due to her brush with death. She can now sense death, and actually has physical symptoms when close to someone who is about to die. There are cases where someone dies while she is very close to them and she sees Troy in the area as well. The novel spends a lot of time teasing whether or not Troy and Delaney are causing the deaths. The real thought provoking part is Delaney desire to help those in pain. She wants to ease their suffering. Troy has one way of dealing with it, and you’re holding your breath waiting to see what Delaney will do.

Fracture is a darker read that asks you thought provoking questions. It leaves you with questions that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

6 comments:

  1. I really loved this book too. It was very well written and such an interesting read. Great review!

    Nerd Girls at Books to the Sky

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  2. Great review and good questions. I'm not sure what I do, but this has got me thinking about it. Thanks.

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  3. Your very clear description of Delaney's complex mental and emotional turmoil after escaping death. This book seems to counter the cliche on having this new lease on life after comming back, which definately seems a bit more realistic here. It's not always "happily ever after" after something as traumatic as that. Death is a hard, hard thing to think about. I couldn't imagine having the ability to predict or (hopefully not for Delaney and Troy) worse yet, cause death for others. Makes me wonder, with "This Dark Endeavor" and "Fractured" on the shelves now, are YA novels centering around attitudes and the subject of death and life comming into trend? Yet another one of the many (possibly taboo) subjects that YA is boldly exploring for all readers! VERY interesting to say the least! Again Kat, FANTASTIC review! :D <3

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  4. Great review! I've heard nothing but good things about this book. Can't wait to read it.

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  5. I finished this the other day and LOVED it. Totally not what I was expecting, but it surprised me in the best way. I adored the relationship between Decker and Delaney, because I got so caught up in every emotion Delaney went through. Love when an author can evoke such emotion. Awesome review, Kathy!

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  6. Troy's character was SO creepy! He really had me paranoid for a while. :) I totally agree with you about Decker, I really just wanted to deck him at times. I did enjoy this book though, it was a really interesting read!

    Great review, Kathy!

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