Me on Chasing Brooklyn

Title: Chasing Brooklyn
Author: Lisa Schroeder
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: January 5, 2010
Pages: 412 (Hardcover)

This review might be a little short. I'm sort of drawing from memory since I borrowed this book from the library to read and have since returned it. I meant to write this review a little while ago.

I don't think I realized that this book was in verse, or as I kept saying in my head, 'in poem form,' when I picked it up at the library. I wasn't totally sure about it, mostly because I haven't read a YA book in verse in forever/at all.

But I really liked it.

The emotional depth was shocking. I don't think I expected to feel how I felt after reading it. Writing in verse cut right to the heart of the matter. Brooklyn's sadness and fear, Nico's confusion and attitude. Their slowly growing relationship. All of it.

I think I was close to crying at some spots. I'm actually surprised I didn't cry, I've been a big softie lately.

Like Freefall, this was a book about loss, about acceptance, about letting people in. Because it was written in verse it was a lot more emotional, a lot more character based. Which I'm not knocking. Brooklyn's chapters felt raw while Nico's were a bit more streamlined. It all seemed to fit together.

Brooklyn's resistance to Nico bothered me a little, but then I never lost a boyfriend during that massively hormonal part of my teenage years. I think that also goes to show how difficult it is to move on from something that heartbreaking. You become afraid of being hurt again. You become stuck in a routine, no matter how unhealthy it is.

After reading this, I kept thinking about how it felt to lose someone close, the most recent being my grandmother some years ago. Grief has the ability to rip you apart and leave you a ruined mess. It's a part of life, but so is that recovery, that reintroduction to life and people that can help you move on.

This book was emotional, but still very good. It's good to read a book like this, one that pulls at your heart and doesn't let go, even at the end. I read this almost a month ago and I'm still thinking about it.

After both Chasing Brooklyn and Freefall, I think I need to review a different book next. One that's still really good but not so sad. :)