Author: Sarah Aronson
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
# of Pages: 300 (in the digital, ebook ARC)
Release Date: 1 September 2013
Publisher Summary: Janine Friedman is famous. She’s the miraculous ‘soul survivor’ of a suicide bombing in a Jerusalem synagogue ten years ago. The bombing killed both her parents and changed not only her life, but also that of Dave Armstrong, the tourist who dug her out of the rubble and ‘found God’ as a result. Most people can remember where they were when it happened – the image of that little girl with her bleeding, ruined hands being dragged into the light.
Ten years on, Janine just wants to forget the past, though the nightmares persist. Sure, she avoids cameras and journalists like the plague, and her hands will never be quite right, but she’s one leg of a ‘tripod’ of friends – Miriam and Abe are always there for her – and the most she’s worrying about is whether she should settle for boyfriend Dan or still go after gorgeous Tyler.
Janine always knew the tenth anniversary would be tough. But then Abe is nearly killed in a road accident and ‘miraculously’ survives. Another boy gets out of his wheelchair and starts to walk… And the common denominator is Janine, with her supposedly healing powers.
With Dave Armstrong back in town, Janine finds herself at the centre of a media storm. Forced to look more deeply into the past, she must finally seek the truth about her parents, her hands, and the terrible day that shaped her life. What does she really believe about all three – and about herself.
Review: The first memory I have of being aware of the world outside of my house and my family, is the memory of the Challenger disaster. I remember it primarily because my friend Zach was home sick that day. He came into Kindergarten the following morning and described the explosion to us in great detail. I remember that vividly. This is all to say that everyone has cultural memories - stories of where we were and what we were doing when something monumental happens. The common experience of these common experiences intrigues me which is why I jumped at the chance to read this book. Unfortunately the book is largely forgettable, unlike the plane crashes that inspired it.
I desperately wanted Janine to be a sympathetic character. I appreciated the fact that she was a survivor who refused to capitalize on her tragedy. I thought the way she struggled to reconcile her conflicted feelings towards her dead parents was realistic and well handled. But none of the relationships she had with other, living characters felt developed enough to make me feel anything other than irritated at her when she complained about being unable to leave the house. I think the biggest reason for this was that there were simply too many secondary characters and way, way too many subplots. Each one of those subplots had an amazing amount of potential, but the book never settled on a single story line long enough to make me care.
I don't mean to say that it was all bad, because I wasn't. I just wish Aronson had done her own, excellent ideas more justice by focusing on one instead of trying to give readers tiny tastes of each of them.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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