83. Alone

Alone. Megan E. Freeman. 2021. [January] 404 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: This is my reality.

Premise/plot: Maddie thought her idea was brilliant: telling her mom she was staying over at her dad's house and telling her dad she was staying over at her mom's house all so she could have a secret sleepover with her two best friends in her grandmother's now-empty apartment. Her friends cancel at the last minute, but, those two texts already being sent Maddie decides to go ahead with her plans. No adult supervision for a whole night! Unlimited TV! Unlimited snacking! No bedtime!

But in the night something strange and mysterious happens--an emergency is declared and the WHOLE state of Colorado, no, the whole of the western states are evacuated. People have left their cell phones behind--in barrels--and she has no way to contact her parents, her friends, anyone in her own contact list.

For the first few days everything is spooky-strange but manageable. How long could her parents really be gone? The air seems breathable enough. There are no aliens stomping down the street. Nothing seems dangerous and emergency-worthy. Then the lights go out...followed by the water.

How long can Maddie survive on her own??? Not that she's alone-alone, she still has her dog GEORGE. But still, she's TWELVE and on her own. Her only other company is the people she meets in BOOKS she borrows from the library.

Alone is a verse novel.

Paradox

maybe God
sends us nightmares
so our living reality
doesn't seem so bad
when we wake up
until we wake up
and remember
we are living in nightmare
we can't escape
except by going
to sleep

From Grief,

food and shelter are nothing
compared to the challenge of
never holding another person's hand
never hearing another person's voice
staying alive isn't easy
but it's a heck of a lot easier than
keeping my heart hopeful and
my mind focused
on what's
real
loneliness and insanity
are twin houseguests
and
it's hard to entertain one
without inviting the other in
as well

My thoughts: I found Alone to be a compelling read. Yes, you will have to suspend your disbelief a bit--no more than you would in say Life As We Knew It--but it is still a good way to spend an afternoon. The premise is certainly a haunting one: that of all people vanishing "without a trace" and you being left behind on your own.

This one would pair well with Island of the Blue Dolphins (as the book mentions it several times) and Life As We Knew It.

I mentioned the need to suspend disbelief...I found the resolution of this one to be of the weakest kind. Perhaps because of the middle grade audience--though perhaps not--Freeman seems to feel the need to tie a bow at the end of this one. And a happily ever after for Maddie involves...well...you can guess what it involves....

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At the end of the book, Maddie is reunited with her Mom (and presumably soon her Dad). She has been rescued. Humans have returned. A corner has been turned, the nightmare is coming to an end. Readers are just told "there was no emergency after all" and that it was a hoax. If this is true, WHY DID IT TAKE OVER FOUR YEARS to realize this and come back. There isn't a good answer to that WHY. Even if the Dad assumed that Maddie was with the Mom and the Mom assumed that Maddie was with her Dad. Four years of millions of people--all the western states--being relocated elsewhere and no one wanting to go back, demanding to be allowed to go back???

Also at the beginning of the book, I have a hard time believing a WHOLE ENTIRE STATE could be evacuated in the matter of eight to ten hours. Add in the fact that it was all the western states--all the towns, all the cities, all the states--I have a hard time believing that it could be organized and carried out in a single night.

Still if you can suspend disbelief at the very, very beginning and the very, very end--it's an entertaining way to spend the day.

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews