Before Wings

by Beth Goobie

Having barely survived a brain aneurysm two years earlier, fifteen-year-old Adrien is spending the holidays working at her Aunt Erin's summer camp. But caught between the land of the living and the spirit world, she is unsure where she belongs. Faced with the knowledge that another potentially fatal aneurysm could strike her at any time, Adrien struggles to understand the message delivered by the spirits of the five young women that only she sees - a message that seems to hold the key to the dark secret that haunts her aunt.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Canada, Supernatural, Young Adult Paranormal

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Beth Goobie is best known for her quirky and dark young adult novels. She's published several of them, beginning in 1994. Her novel Before Wings won the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Book Award in 2000, and was chosen by young readers for the Best Books list of the American Library Association.Much of the turmoil in Goobie's life has been laid bare in two books for adult readers, Scars of Light, which is autobiographical poetry, and The Only-Good Heart, a book of short stories. Both are built on the theme of cults, abuse, and emotional torture. They were, she says, both therapeutic for herself and a warning to others.

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. Quite a dark subject matter but was beautifully written and very easy to read. Definitely for young adults but I still really enjoyed it.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored this book. Although I don't normally read about spirits and ghosts, it was a great story! Glad to see they both survived Paul's birthday.

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

How better to treat the tricky subject of teenage mortality than to scoop it up and bring it to a sylvan glade in Canada and a midsummer night's dream. There is a woodland for lovers, dreamers, spirits and sprites, rough mechanicals, Oberon and a Titania once ill met by moonlight.

This is only a personal impression but I happily see Hermia and Lysander transformed into Adrien and Paul, Puck into Darcie with her bow and arrows, the mechanicals into the camp staff playing their parts, the faerie folk and spirits into the children at the camp and the five ghostly girls, Oberon - for a while at least - in the guise of the manipulating Connor, and a Titania as a tortured and bespelled Erin. The woods around Camp Lakeshore are full of fluttering ethereal mayflies and children gather about the old wishing-tree as if they were forest creatures absorbed into the magic of the place.

Into this Adrien can slowly lose her absorption in fear of her own mortality as the supernatural and the fantastical seep into her being. Then there is Paul to fall in love with and a mystery to solve.

At that point reality pulls the story to one side. Paul becomes a stranger character. He is a teenage boy who loves biking, the outdoor life and is ready for hard work, and yet he obsesses about dying on his birthday - for no apparent reason other than giving Adrien an excuse for falling for a fellow sufferer. Connor as the devious, perhaps diabolic, water activities instructor never really comes to life. At one point Erin shouts at him: "No!... Not her too. You can't have her too." It is when Connor is enticing Adrien into his canoe to take her out on to the lake and strongly suggests Connor was behind the death of the other girls years earlier; but he couldn't have been. We have already seen in a ghostly vision how the girls died. It was an accident, and Connor is surely not old enough to have been around as an adult at that time. If this means Connor is some sort of satanic force he is too easily beaten.

In addition there are the obvious points where the real world should intrude. If five girls had died in an unsupervised boating incident at night, while the supervisor was boozing and bonking in the undergrowth, how did Camp Lakeshore ever remain in business? And how did Auntie Erin, the said supervisor, avoid a charge of gross negligence and end up in jail? Sadly Adrien is left with her health problem unresolved though hopefully Paul has accepted he is at least not ill and can stop pretending his end is nigh.

The conclusion is a little faded but while the Dream is in full flow this is an intriguing fantasy.

[Kwoomac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author is touted as the best young adult writer around. i don't think so. I hated almost everything about the book. The teeen characters did not act or sound believable. The main character, 15 year old Adrien, suffered from a brain aneurism at age 13. She is mopey and morbid, expecting to die any minute. For some unexplained reason, adrien can now see a group of 5 girls who died 20 years ago at the summer camp adrien works at. So she sees the girls both when they are alive and also after they are dead, flying around with their unfinished business. At the same time, Adrien's love interest has dreams about his own death, which is supposed to happen on his birthday.Oh, and Adrien has been in his dreams evn before he met her.Just like real life. Lots of drama. Cut to the big scene where the camp hotty lifeguard decides to kill Adrien because she doesn't have a crush on him. On paul's birthday ! paul tries to save adrien, adrien tries to save paul, and the dead girls try to save both of them. bad lifeguard goes away and everyone else lives happily ever after. really !

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I have a new favourite author to mine the back catalogue of... BEFORE WINGS was enchanting and so perfectly captured the feeling of in-between-ness that defines adolescence. Very beautiful, and I'm immensely glad i stumbled across this book in a used bookstore.

[Helena]

Adrien, protagonistki romana Ranjena krila, je pred dvema letoma počila možganska anevrizma. Po hudi izkušnji jo starša skušata na vse načine zaščititi, saj obstaja možnost, da se dogodek ponovi, kar bi za petnajstletnico pomenilo gotovo smrt. Ker jo nenehna skrb staršev in njeno zdravstveno stanje zelo obremenjujeta, se odloči oditi k teti, ki vodi poletni tabor, v katerem bi opravljala počitniško delo. Ob prihodu v tabor se zboji, da tamkajšnjemu dogajanju ne bos kos. Moti jo čudaška teta, predvsem pa njeni vrstniki, ki poleg nje skrbijo za otroke. Vodilno vlogo igra Connor, ki Adrien terorizira na vsakem koraku. A Adrien v taboru spozna tudi fanta Paula in med njima se razvije posebna vez, naklonjenost, že zaljubljenost. Oba, sprva depresivna najstnika, skupaj preživljata prosti čas, veliko razmišljata o življenju in smrti ter se spoznavata in kmalu spet pričneta verjeti v lepote in smisel življenja. Adrien ves čas spremljajo paranormalni pojavi, prikazujejo se ji duhovi in prikazni, ki si jih ne zna razložiti. Neprestano se ji pojavlja pet mladih, že mrtvih deklet, ki ji iz onostranstva pošiljajo skrita sporočila. Trudi se jih razumeti in ko premleva njihov pomen, vse nakazuje, da pri tem odločilno vlogo igra prav njena čudaška teta. Toda, kakšno vlogo ima le-ta pri tem in, ali bo Adrien sposobna priti skrivnosti do dna? Mladinski roman, v katerem se prepletajo ljubezen, mladostniško iskanje samega sebe in fantaziranja. Beth Goobie je ena izmed najvidnejših sodobnih kanadskih mladinskih pisateljic. Njena dela obravnavajo predvsem teme zlorabljenih, prizadetih in nemočnih otrok. Roman Ranjena krila je bil dobro sprejet. Leta 2000 so ga kanadske knjižnice izbrale za najboljši mladinski roman.

[Lara Vehar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was weird but I kind of enjoyed it. I didn't expect the topic to be this weirdly dark and weird but- I liked it. Was it realistic? No. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

The characters are interesting - I really loved the main character that thinks about death a lot- I loved the romance between the main two characters, the setting was interesting being a camp for kids. The story has spirits, death, depression, past and regret. it's a weird but good story with really interesting characters.

[Enamele · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐
Ihan super kaunis ja älyttömän kekseliäs ja uniikki tarina. Hipoo täydellisyyttä mutta alun takkuilusta lähtee puol tähteä. Upeita kielikuvia, mielenmaisemia ja ajatuksia. En ois ite ikinä osannu kuvitellakaan mitään tällästä. Niin kaunis teos!

[Chandni · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this novel was really disjointed, but I liked Adrien and I thought her story was relatively interesting.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you describe the story of a teen age girl who had suffered from a brain aneurysm and now seems to be hanging between the world of the living and the world of the dead? Especially when she meets a boy at a summer camp, where she is working and is owned by her aunt, who is known as the "Doomsday Boy" because he has been dreaming about his own death for many years? When it is written by this gifted Canadian writer, you describe it as an excellent read.

This story was rather difficult for me to read personally; my father died of an aneurysm that apparently had been around for most of his life and should have been detected long before it was. The poetic tone and description made be go back in time and seriously wonder what it was like for my father, who loved us so much and did not want to leave us, but who had been in such pain for so long, the beckoning of the other world must have been irresistible.

Thank you, Beth Gobie, for expanding my perspective.

[Scarlet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book like this deserves to be recognized. beth Goobie did an amazing job bringing a whole knew perspective on a touchy subject. Diseases, health issues, they are hard to deal with, but the protagonist in "Before Wings" is a strong girl who is stuck inbetween this world and the next. Her expirences at summer camp, the people she meets, the things she sees; they shape her and the help advance the plot.
I thought this book was erilly fantastic. It took me a while to understand it, but I realized that to read this book, I really had to put myself in the shoes of the characters. I had to think like them.
I couldn't imagine living like the characters in this book live, I couldn't imagine having the conditions like the main character has.
This book is wonderfully different and I feel like it gave me a whole new look at life.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Flügel aus Glas" ist sicher nicht vielen von euch bekannt. Ich bin mehr oder minder damals über das Buch gestolpert, als ich mein Schulpraktikum in der Bibliothek gemacht habe. Es hatte mich in so einen Bann gezogen, dass ich Seite für Seite tiefer abgetaucht bin und danach irgendwie Schwierigkeiten hatte wieder in den schnellen Alltag einzusteigen. Selten haben Bücher so einen tiefen und sehr verwirrenden Eindruck bei mit hinterlassen.
Durch Zufall bin ich dem Buch letztes Jahr erneut begegnet auf einem Bücher Flohmarkt. Und ich wollte wissen, ob es wieder diese Wirkung auf mich hat nach all den Jahren. Nun, da ich es gelesen habe, fällt es mir schwer es zu bewerten. Ich bin nicht hellauf begeistert von der Geschichte, aber ich denke trotzdem fast täglich über die Geschichte nach und das obwohl ich es vor knapp 2 Wochen bereits beendet habe.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

My absolute hatred for the main character was one of the main reasons I couldn't bring myself to finish this book. The only thing I really knew about her halfway through the book was that she had a brain aneurism, knew she was going to die, and had a very pessimistic attitude towards everyone.
The whole spirit world wasn't brought up until 3/4 of the way into the book and the love story, which was undeveloped and made no sense, took up the majority of the book. The characters were extremely undeveloped which made them very hard to relate to.
Poorly done. If given the chance, I would go back in time and burn this book.

Honestly, Bella Swan was a more likeable character than Adrien Wood.

[Ashiecha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was trapped in Adrien's world for 2 days and I couldn't get out. This is the second book by Beth Goobie that I've read and she's now one of my favorite authors. The book was fantastic. Such a great story line. Amazing characters. Beautiful written. Very poetic. And watching Adrien learn about life and death and hope like that was life changing. So many great lessons to teach and I felt like I was learning all of those lessons along with her. I'm so thankful for the school project that brought these books into my life. I recommend it for everyone and I will be reading more of her books in the future.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little slow to begin with... but coming across the finish line with a gleaming gold medal.
It's rare to find a book that covers topics such as death, life, hope and freedom and mold them into a fascinating, heart-warming novel about a girl who has forgetten to live.
It's books like this that help open our eyes and let our hearts soar... they help us to appreciate the life we have been given. This book is a true gem!!!

[elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember a whole lot about this, just that I liked it a lot, and that I recommended it to a friend who thinks a lot (obsesses? I'd have to let her answer that) about death (along with KIT'S WILDERNESS).

[Anna Orsini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because it was one of my favorite books in 8th grade but I couldn't much remember what it was about. It did not disappoint. A beautiful story. (And of course, I'm a sucker for anything set at a summer camp.)

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, you dont want to stop!

[Beate · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a wonderful and very beautiful book. It's very well written and I couldn't put it down at all. Had read it very fast and was quite impressed by it. It's currently one of my favorite books :)

[Basil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent teen book.

[Sam Clover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure, it's been 20 years since I read this, but this was easily my FAVOURITE book when I was 15. Angsty, flawed characters, drama, action and adventure: it had it all.

[Heather Clemons-Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down, an interesting connected view of spirit world limboland.

[Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, and beautifully written.