YA and Beyond discussion

Monthly hidden gem read The Raging Quiet - I am sorry it is not available in ebook form and I would be happy to mail out a copy if someone can not get a copy from their local library.

This book was very polarizing for me. I HATED the first part of it (I felt the plot is too convenient and our MC is a total special snowflake), but then I got about halfway and I LOVED LOVED it. This story had a lot of fantastic things in it. I will write a better rendition of my thoughts with all kinds of spoiler tags later. :)

FANTASTIC pick, Heidi!! :)

Oh yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So happy to hear that Elora :)

I finished. Here are my thoughts. :) (view spoiler)[ Honestly, I never would have picked this book up on my own, let alone finished it.
The main character Marnie is nothing short of a special snowflake. She can do everything she sets her mind to and fails at nothing. Not only that, but the plot of the story was made just for her. I found this quite annoying, and normally would have marked this as a DNF, but I pressed on.
I’m really glad I did.
Raver is deaf, but since no one knows that, he is treated as insane, maybe even possessed by the devil himself. When Marnie comes along, she figures out that he is deaf and works to communicate with him by creating signs for them to communicate.
This leads the townspeople to believe that she is a witch.
I thought the author did a superb job of showing the misunderstandings that can come if people aren’t educated about others and how difficult life is when someone is deaf. Her handling of a witch hunt was spot-on and again showed the prejudices people can have when we rely on our pre-conceived notions.
The second half of the book was considerably stronger than the first. Although I still had some issues with it—mainly I didn’t like the fact that Marnie married Raver (Raven). She made such a big deal about not wanting to get married and then magically the next day she is saying vows to Raver. Not only that, but she mothered him so much, so it didn’t seem like it would be an equal marriage.
All-in-all though, despite the issues, I applaud the author for tackling such hard topics and bringing real-life issues to a fiction book.
(hide spoiler)]

I never would have read this book had some of my other GR friends praised it either Elora. I respect your thoughts and I can see what you are saying about Marnie. Normally that would have bothered me about a character as well but for some reason I didn't get the same vibe from her. I think I mostly loved the message of this book as well as Raven - who I wanted to protect and shelter :) All in all this book was different from anything else I have read so that is the main reason I picked it. Thanks for giving it a whirl :)

Heidi (Yup. Still here.) wrote: "I never would have read this book had some of my other GR friends praised it either Elora. I respect your thoughts and I can see what you are saying about Marnie. Normally that would have bothered ..."

I'm really glad I did! :)