Book Review: Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams

Title: Miles From Ordinary

Author: Carol Lynch Williams

# Of Pages: 208

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Publication Date: March 15, 2011

Level: Middle Grade

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Thirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control....

My Verdict

I could have stopped reading this book at any point and never thought twice about it. It was repetitive, boring, and just plain weird.

The whole story takes place in a 24-hour period, which I normally love. However, in this case there was not enough of a plot to even fill that 24 hours, instead it was full of repetition and scenes being dragged out painfully slow. 

The best part about this book was that Lacey is an easy character to connect with. She has a really hard life for a thirteen year old, and spends all of her time outside of school taking care of her mother who is mentally ill. You are instantly pulled into what it’s like for Lacey, the stress, worry, and fear she lives with make you wish there was something you could do to help. Although she’s just thirteen years old, Lacey has had to deal with stuff way beyond her age level so she seemed a lot older to me. 

I felt like this was intended to be a suspenseful story, but it just came off as strange and a little creepy rather than suspenseful. The author took the ending in a different direction than I thought, so that was a nice twist (I use that word very loosely).