Book Review: This is Sarah

Title: This is Sarah

Author: Ally Malinenko

Genre: YA Fiction

Reviewer: Aly

Book Blurb:

When Colin Leventhal leaned out his bedroom window on the night of May 12th and said goodbye to his girlfriend, he never expected it would be forever. But when Sarah Evans goes missing that night, Colin's world unravels as he transforms from the boyfriend next door to the main police suspect. Then one year later, at her memorial service, Colin makes a phone call that changes everything. Is it possible that Sarah is still alive? And if so how can he bring her back? 

As Colin struggles with this possibility, across the street, Sarah’s little sister, Claire learns how to navigate the strange new landscape of life without her sister. While her parents fall apart, Claire remains determined to keep going even if it kills her. 

Review:

This is Sarah was really well written, it wasn't hard to hear Colin's voice and I found that the writing really kept the reader interested and emotionally involved. Ally Malinenko also included different forms of storytelling including the transcripts from some of Colin's interrogations and several other forms that are different from the narration that is typical. The only thing that I found was that if you didn't pay attention to the names at the beginning of the chapters it could be difficult to tell when Claire was the narrator. I was halfway through a chapter and had all these questions before going back and realizing that Claire was narrating. But other than that it was really well written.

There were lots of rough scenes,and while it was emotional, it was emotional in the way that you felt sadness, anger, or despair with or on behalf of the characters. There were few scenes that were actually happy but it was still very emotional. Dealing with Colin's refusal to grieve, anger, then Mrs. Evan's denial and Mr. Evans attempts to grieve, and many more was draining as if the reader was experiencing each and every emotion. It was amazing to get that deep into a book.

It was eye opening to experience something that many people hope that on their darkest days they will never experience. Colin had problems letting Sarah go and that can be applied to much more than just a missing person. It was fascinating to watch Colin as he moved through the difficult process of moving on from Sarah's disappearance. Especially because not having a body and thus not knowing for certain if she was dead did not help the process at all. 

This is Sarah is an emotionally touching story, and it was well written. It's not a hard book to read except emotionally and you really should give it a chance!

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