Book: Love is the Higher Law
Author: David Levithan
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction (YA)
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 176
Favorite Character: Claire? Or Jasper... It's hard to pick one.
Plot(From Goodreads):
First there is a Before, and then there is an After. . . .
The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered forever on September 11, 2001. Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her younger brother in his classroom. Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents’ frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he’s okay. Peter, a classmate of Claire’s, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.
Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this catastrophic event. As each gets to know the other, their moments become wound around each other’s in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by.
David Levithan has written a novel of loss and grief, but also one of hope and redemption as his characters slowly learn to move forward in their lives, despite being changed forever
Review:
I came so close to just sobbing while reading because it's just so raw and pure. And the characters are so real and how the react to everything is also so very real. It's my first book by David Levithan that is just by him and I really did enjoy it. I think I did so much because of the character, because it's all about them and they're so good. Just plainly good. I'm going to stop gushing about the characters.
I, also, was very young when 9/11 occurred, but I also live very close to New York City. But I wasn't there so to hear first story accounts, even ones from characters in a book, is just so... thralling and heart wrenching. But also amazing. I'd recommend this to pretty much everyone. It's not a long read and it's just a good read.
And I say that as someone who normally does read contemporary, who loves a good wizard or faerie or any kind of supernatural element in a book. So enjoy and I am really hoping to read more of David's books in the future.
