Flux
January 8, 2016
384 pages
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Silence is safe. Fate is not.Life at the Speed of Us is definitely different, maybe even a bit weird. It is definitely not what I was expecting.
When Sovern Briggs survives a car crash, she stops talking to seal in the memory of the final sounds from her mother’s life. As conflict with her father builds and failure in school looms, Sovern seeks relief in a dangerous boyfriend and in speed’s adrenaline edge. These needs collide, leading Sovern to a snowboarding accident that changes her future and perhaps that of our universe.
Life at the Speed of Us weaves dyslexia, math, cutting-edge science, genius, and love into a young woman’s reluctant journey toward grace.
Sovern was a character different from any other i have read. After the car accident that killed her mother, but she survived, Sovern has nearly stopped speaking. She is not who she was before the accident, but much of that is on purpose. Now,she spends her time with her boyfriend and snowboarding on the mountain their town holds. Thanks to her dyslexia, school has never been easy for Sovern so she feels no remorse at frequently ditching for more time on the mountain. So long as she doesn't miss math.
Math is the one thing that has always worked for Sovern.
Now, after events that seem as though they should be impossible, math, quantum physics and her own instincts become more important to Sovern than anything else.
The way that Sovern's dyslexia, her love of and talent for math, quantum physics, her grief for her mother, her likely damaging coping techniques and porcupines all come together in Life at the Speed of Us is really quite something. It brings readers and characters alike into worlds they likely have never imagined and poses some very thought provoking questions.
I liked that the things Sovern discovers were not just, 'and then this happens,' without any sort of explanation. Even if the explanation was theoretical or not all together understood yet. The way quantum physics and what may be possible in science were a part of not only the action and plot but of Sovern's character and her self discoveries was really well done.
I do still have some trouble reconciling Sovern's initial reason for not speaking with her love of math and later quantum physics. It still seems very far from the facts she likes. I understand, however, that the decision, the path it and her mother's death had her on were, along with the math and science, her relationships and even where she lived, absolutely crucial to the novel and how everything worked.
review copy received, via NetGalley, from publisher
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