Age Group: Young Adult 13+
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Release Date: [Already Released] August 2009
Format: Paperback, 208 pages
ISBN-13:
9781921502361
RRP: $16.95 AUD
Cover love?
At first, I thought little of the cover, until I recognised it's significance in the book! It's a beautiful piece of artwork, and I love the watercolour blending.
Synopsis
The cool group at school is not as luminous as it seems. Sure, they appear to have it all, but there are problems lurking just below the surface.
Beautiful Jordan is struggling to cope because of her newly divorced parents, Meredith covers her past by playing the clown, Cecilia hides her feelings and a shameful secret, Sam is growing up, and Jack is caught off-guard when he falls in love for the first time.
And then there's someone else. She's not part of the group. The others have no idea she's there. But she knows that there are cracks. She watches them from the inside, out. From the outside, in.
A beautiful novella about figuring out who you are and how you fit in.
Review
Outside In is a short and beautiful
novella about finding where you belong in the tumultuous, confusing
complexity that is teenage life. I read it in one sitting and was stunned by
the truth that emanated from this powerful story.
This story describes the friendship dynamics between the
"luminous" group at the narrator's school. The narrator is a new girl
at the school, never identified until the end, who feels like she is always on
the outside, the fringes of society, looking in, but never truly a part of it.
The "luminous" group comprises of four outwardly content girls whose
lives seem perfectly okay on the surface, but beneath the facade, there is tension as each girl secretly goes through
individual trials and tribulations.
The book switches focus between all the characters, but
never returning to any one, except the narrator. From her position outside the
group, the narrator is able to sense more about the dynamics between the friends
than the girls themselves. I liked this choice of structure as it truly is unique, lends a voice to every character,
and shows us the troubles beneath the cool surface. However, this left little room
for the characters to truly develop.
The writing is not something that stands out to me, but
Keighery intelligently explores the themes
of appearances versus reality. While each character has their own, very
different but innately related, set of problems, they are characters that all
could relate to. All social issues explored - divorce, low self-esteem,
isolation, hurt, betrayal, friendship, love, eating disorders - are just as
serious as each other, because of the immense effect that they have on that
person. And I'm sure that at least one of those issues has affected everyone.
Outside In is a powerful story that lights up the darkness in the lives of others, and the raw emotions explored in this novella touched my heart with their truthfulness.
Links:
Outside In at Hardie Grant Egmont | Chrissie Keighery's Website
