Title: Survive
Author: Alex Morel
# Of Pages: 259
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: August 2, 2012
Source: Library
Level: Young Adult
Rating: 4 Hearts
Synopsis
(From Amazon.com)
Hatchet meets Lost in this modern-day adventure tale of one
girl's reawakening
Jane is on a plane on her way home to Montclair, New Jersey,
from a mental hospital. She is about to kill herself. Just before she can
swallow a lethal dose of pills, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes
black. Jane wakes up amidst piles of wreckage and charred bodies on a snowy
mountaintop. There is only one other survivor: a boy named Paul, who inspires
Jane to want to fight for her life for the first time.
Jane and Paul scale icy slopes and huddle together for
warmth at night, forging an intense emotional bond. But the wilderness is a
vast and lethal force, and only one of them will survive.
My Verdict
Survive is a
heartbreaking and beautiful debut from author Alex Morel.
I was so excited to read a book under 300 pages. I feel like
this has become a rarity. I started the book before bed one night and had
easily read half before putting it down. It only took one more sitting the next
day for me to finish it off.
The book is divided into two parts; Part One: Prepare for
Takeoff and Part Two: Survive. Within both parts the chapters were very short
and propelled you forward to keep reading just one more, which always turned
into a bunch more!
While I may not have loved the characters right from the
start, I did grow to love them as the story went on. I was so impressed with
both Jane and Paul’s bravery, strength, and sense of calm. If my plane went
down onto an icy mountaintop I don’t think I would be able to pull myself
together as fast as they do. What started out as a conversation between two strangers
on an airplane evolves into a bond strong enough to keep each other alive.
While I did enjoy the romance aspect, I don’t think it is
one that ever would have developed outside of the circumstances. I think any
guy and girl who were in a life or death situation would probably end up
getting romantic. I mean you’re the only two people alive, and who knows if
you’re ever going to see another human being again.
Even though I knew how things were going to end (it says so
right up there in the synopsis^) it still broke my heart and made me cry when
it happened, leaving tearstains on the pages.
The whole book is this intense fight for survival, filled
with stress and anticipation for rescue. It all builds up to what we hope will
be a satisfying ending. However, I was really disappointed in the ending. After
all we went through, that’s all the closure we get? Seriously? It just wasn’t
enough for me.
On the inside flap of the book it was described as “Hatchet
for a new generation.” I’d never heard of Hatchet befor,e but now I want to read it, and if it’s anywhere near as good
as Survive I know I’m going to
like it. A lot! I can’t wait to see what author Alex Morel cooks up for us next
time.
Objectionable Content Warning: disturbing images of people
after the plane crash, talk of Jane’s former suicide attempts, a handful of
swears, most of which were the F word, and the killing & skinning of a
rabbit.
