Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts
A novel about the end of days full of surprising beginnings
The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn’t how to save the world—the question is, what to do with the time that's left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand.
Alexandra Coutts's TUMBLE & FALL is a powerful story of courage, love, and hope at the end of the world.
Publishes in US: September 17th 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) MacMillan
Genre: YA
Source: MacMillan
Series? No.
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Overall this is a good story, and I love the premise of a week until the end of the world, and what these characters will do with their time.
Lots of things worked really well, I liked the presence and theme of family in this one. Given there are some really dysfunctional ones between the characters, but when it comes down to the end of the world, I like to see who is surrounding and left standing by your side. I also really connected with Sienna and her depression. It is something that I battle with myself and I think it was portrayed pretty well and I def. understood where she was coming from. We get off to a sad and gripping start with her, and she was my favorite of the three.
I also thought that Zan's loss of Leo, her boyfriend was a powerful motivator in the story, and I just wish that it was written in first person, because I think that I would have been more invested in the characters than I already was.
With the beginnings of new love, questioning things you thought were certain, love whether romantic, friendship or familial, healing and grief are all pushed to the max when you try to cram everything that's important into the last week with the end of the world staring you in the face.
There was some insta-love, but I guess given the circumstances, anything the characters felt would be amped up, so I guess I can excuse it. And I will go back to the third person as another reason that I didn't fully feel Sienna and Owen together. I wanted to really root for them and be invested in their blossoming relationship but I just didn't quite as much as I wanted to.
What I really loved though was seeing what was important--finding truth, forgiveness, and being around those you love--all showed itself in different ways in the characters. They all seem so disconnected when the story started, but I liked seeing everything coming together. Seeing how they all handled the last week, their feelings, and their lives so differently, but there are still similarities that seemed to be universal.
I also was a little disappointed that Zan and Sienna's voices weren't more distinct, and again I will go back to my preference for 1st person, because I think that would have given them a greater chance to have their own personalities and for their voices to shine through. But as it was, I didn't have the smoothest transitions as it switched back and forth between their stories because I was getting details confused.
Tumble and Fall really caught me at the beginning, though it did slow some for me in the middle it was still enough to keep it going. But I thought the ending was spectacular. I think that all of the elements worked together so well, and I couldn't imagine it all turning out so fitting for the story.
My question to you, my lovely readers:
Where would you want to spend your last 5 days?
