Grace by Elizabeth Scott
I thoroughly (and darkly) enjoyed Elizabeth Scott's novel Living Dead Girl and when I read the reviews and descriptions for Grace, I got giddy that she was writing another dark novel. Scott's wonderfully slim but powerful novels are great for reluctant readers and those needing a change of pace (that was me this week).
Grace is a girl trying to escape her country (an unnamed country, and the book takes place some time in the future) after failing at her purpose: to be a suicide bomber and to kill the Minister of Culture as well as herself. She approached the stage where the Minister was, slid the bomb down her leg (as all good Angels are taught to do), but kicked it off her leg and did not detonate the bomb until she was a safe distance away. After her failure, she was no longer welcome with her People, the ones who live in the Hills and attack Keran Berj and his cities and villages through suicide bombers. So Grace went back to the City, went into hiding and found someone who would help her escape.
Grace finally boards the train that will take her to the Border, where hopefully she can cross into another country and start a new life, and with her is a young man Kerr. The two are supposed to pose as brother and sister, fetching a fictitious pregnant sister from the country they are fleeing to. Soldiers are constantly present on the train, checking papers and creating constant worry for Grace and Kerr.
The story unfolds as Grace thinks about what she did, what she was supposed to do, and how her life came to that point. It's amazing to watch this character struggle with feeling sorry that she wants to live, that she didn't want to give up everything, her life, to send a message to the dictator Keran Berj, that she just wants freedom. But freedom at what cost? Who defines freedom? And is the freedom Keran Berj's people want different from that of the People of the Hills? Grace learns that the world is not such a cut and dry place, that what she has been taught is similar to what Kerr has been taught, even though their people fight each other. Kerr has a few secrets of his own that challenge Grace's chances for escape.
Grace invites readers to think about how easily we all grow up believing what we're taught, what we're told, how questioning the way things are can be dangerous, and being true to yourself is dangerous as well. There's one particularly eye-opening moment when Grace thinks about not herself and not her intended target, but everyone else around the day she set that bomb off, something she had never thought about before. Powerful.
Grace is a girl trying to escape her country (an unnamed country, and the book takes place some time in the future) after failing at her purpose: to be a suicide bomber and to kill the Minister of Culture as well as herself. She approached the stage where the Minister was, slid the bomb down her leg (as all good Angels are taught to do), but kicked it off her leg and did not detonate the bomb until she was a safe distance away. After her failure, she was no longer welcome with her People, the ones who live in the Hills and attack Keran Berj and his cities and villages through suicide bombers. So Grace went back to the City, went into hiding and found someone who would help her escape.
Grace finally boards the train that will take her to the Border, where hopefully she can cross into another country and start a new life, and with her is a young man Kerr. The two are supposed to pose as brother and sister, fetching a fictitious pregnant sister from the country they are fleeing to. Soldiers are constantly present on the train, checking papers and creating constant worry for Grace and Kerr.
The story unfolds as Grace thinks about what she did, what she was supposed to do, and how her life came to that point. It's amazing to watch this character struggle with feeling sorry that she wants to live, that she didn't want to give up everything, her life, to send a message to the dictator Keran Berj, that she just wants freedom. But freedom at what cost? Who defines freedom? And is the freedom Keran Berj's people want different from that of the People of the Hills? Grace learns that the world is not such a cut and dry place, that what she has been taught is similar to what Kerr has been taught, even though their people fight each other. Kerr has a few secrets of his own that challenge Grace's chances for escape.
Grace invites readers to think about how easily we all grow up believing what we're taught, what we're told, how questioning the way things are can be dangerous, and being true to yourself is dangerous as well. There's one particularly eye-opening moment when Grace thinks about not herself and not her intended target, but everyone else around the day she set that bomb off, something she had never thought about before. Powerful.
Labels: female characters, fiction
posted by austentatious at 1:56 PM
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