3.5

I almost stopped reading this book several times - the characters were hard to get to know, with no development of any secondary characters. The ending almost made it worthwhile, with a somewhat unpredictable ending that answered several ambiguities within the book.

I was suuuuuper about this and couldn't stop listening because I wanted to know what happened, and the end kind of lost me. It's not that I feel it was a waste to pick the book up, but it was disappointing in the way things wrapped up, because they were a combination of Not Wrapped Up and I Was Really Hoping It Wouldn't Be The Very Conventional Unconventional Ending And It Kind Of Was, so that's disappointing.

I kept thinking of Suspiria (the movie, not the text) when I was reading it, and also Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (the book more than the movie) and a bit The Orphanage (the movie), which is an interesting combination, and I don't know what you can do with that, but that's probably the X meets Y pitch I'll give people when they ask about it.

CW: abuse, suicide, suicidal ideation

I struggled a little to get used to Nova Ren Suma's writing style with this one. It was very reminiscent of Leslye Walton's writing style as they are both very lyrical and metaphorical which can take some adjusting after reading a lot of contemporary and fantasy that aren't written that way. Once I got used to it I really did enjoy the story and the magical realism that surrounded the main character Bina and the tenants of Catherine House. I feel like this story would have done better to use some other plot device aside from suicide/attempted suicide to revolve around because it seemed unnecessary to me. Some parts of the story still confuse me and gives me like a LOST vibe where I know my questions will never have answers because that is just how it is. I gave this 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to 4.

Nova Ren Suma has long been an auto-buy author for me. I've even listed her as my favorite author quite a few times. Ever since I read Imaginary Girls one million years ago, I've been hooked on her storytelling and her words, buying a loving all of her work available to me. Coming off the high of The Walls Around Us meant I was desperate for more of her writing. This book couldn't get to me quickly enough.


I'm sad to say that even though I did like this, I didn't love it. I don't know if it was me or if it's the book, but there's definitely a spark missing here.


I really loved the first half, though. Suma's words are simply beautiful; she has a style all her own that honestly makes me jealous as an aspiring writer. I love how she is able to create this intricate world and family dynamic in such a short period of time. One great strength of this book is the complicated relationship between Bina and her mother. It's not a relationship I'd like to have with my own daughter, but it is one that feels authentic and realistic and messy in a real-world sort of way. Bina half worships and half hates her mother, and her mother is her own messy entity with secrets and a veneer not easily cracked. Learning about Dawn through Bina was painful but thought-provoking and made me reflect on my own experiences with learning that my parents were humans who made mistakes.


Suma knows how to write girls. She makes her characters fallible and messy and sometimes irrational and always angry. If you look across her body of work I don't think you'd find anyone who has better tapped into the teenage girl psyche. Bina and Monet's rocky, cat-and-mouse relationship is the perfect example. This entire boarding house is the perfect example. The world of this book and everyone in it felt so real. Especially in the first half of the book, it was hard to remember that this wasn't someone's memoir.



However, the second half just did not live up to all the first half promised. The middle certainly dragged. The biggest downfall for me was that there were so many secrets, so many things not coming together or making sense. The characters were treating Bina weirdly. There were so many questions. By a certain point in a book, you expect these questions to be answered. You should start putting the pieces together yourself, maybe just a little bit before the main character does. But these things never came together! I kept expecting Bina to just force their hands, to make them explain to her. I expected her to finally break open the brick wall and find those answers herself if the others weren't willing to give them to her. But pages just kept going by with Bina not pressing for answers, not doing anything at all. It was frustrating and for the first time ever, made me not want to pick up a Nova Ren Suma book. It was depressing.



Now, Suma's books have interesting endings. They're often a little open-ended, hard to pin down, slipping out of your grasp at the last second. They take me a moment to digest and understand. I expect that now, after reading all of her YA titles. But this? This was just downright confusing. I mean, understand (mostly?) what happened. But I don't understand the significance of a few things. I especially don't understand the specifics of how a lot of the details actually worked. We only figure out what went down at like 95% of the way through the book. I need a clearer explanation or someone to hold my hand and walk me through it.


I think that maybe a lot of this was on me. I had high expectations. The Walls Around Us was an absolute masterpiece, but more than that, all of Suma's books feel like they were written specifically with me in mind. They're exactly what I love: an authentic story about a girl so real you feel like you know her, with some paranormal/magical bits swirled in, a mystery to solve, and gorgeous writing. And a lot of that was delivered in A Room Away From the Wolves. But there was a missing piece for me, a clearer, more definitive answer that I'm looking for; a sharper connection to the characters; a compulsion to keep reading. That said, I still highly recommend Wolves of course, because I feel like someone smarter than me would understand it, and all of her previous books were amazing, this just wasn't my favorite.

What. Did. I. Just. Read?

3.5 stars.

The prose was beautiful but often times not clear enough. I guess it's supposed to be that way, because the book is kind of ghostly and dreamy, but for me it just ended up being unclear and hard to follow.

This was my first magical realism book...its been awhile I was had to start the book over before I even got to the third chapter. I love Bina, she was real, her emotions, anger, and loss of love she feels. I do hate the ending Bina, would never be able to fix her situation with her mother. Or rather her mother would never be able to be a mother to her daughter...One shocking aspect of this is the marriage between the mother and the stepfather. Their relationship showed how some step-parents do not care about the new spouses children but Bina's mother was super accepting of his daughter's so much that she treated her biological daughter like a problem....That was hard to read because Bina just wanted her mother but her mother wanted to be the best wife and keep them with a roof over their head, and food on the table. Bottom line just read the book!

This was an amazing read! I loved the fantasy/paranomral plot! This was beautifully written, and refreshing. I did get confused while reading this book and had to start over. This was a lot information at once but I got through it. I found myself questioning what I was reding but Nova made this book worth while. Bina was an interseting character, she was adealt an awful hand at life. Horrible father, and her mother decides to leave but only to marry someone else and his daughters hate her. But no one noties how the girls treat Bina, just how Bina reacts. Her mother was quited frustating, I mean she basically believed everything her step-daughters said about Bina, and never stood up for her, It was something to read about, if you have a chance to read this book please do!!

Creepy and fierce - disturbing and just hopeful enough. I love the nightmarish worlds Nova Ren Suma leads you through.