Where the World Ends

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Janie tells the story "before" The Incident, Micah "after" in alternating, nonlinear chapters. Janie's journals of fairytales also illustrate The Incident. Micah has retrograde amnesia, as well as difficulty with short term memory and can't remember The Incident, or where Janie is. The police interview him, but he doesn't know why. This is Where the World Ends reminded me of Paper Towns, but much less infuriating and written in a more engaging manner. Amy Zhang has a flair for writing unpredictable contemporaries with unlikable characters who get turned on their heads. Janie is eccentric, wildly whimsical, and to be honest I kept picturing her as a child in maybe middle school, not a teenager in high school. She's incredibly callow and naive, and absolutely preposterous. Sure, she was a "fun" character, but her level of immaturity was a little off kilter and the way she abused her friendship with Micah made me like her that much less. Speaking of Micah, he was such a hopelessly-in-love pushover, and I'm just not a fan of those character types either. Their personalities are almost identical to the character's in Adi Alsaid's, Never Always Sometimes. Janie was raped so she burns her house down to pin it on the person who raped her, when she found out it didn't go as planned, she drowns herself. Mr. Farriss said, with his little crooked smile, “The King is dead: long live the King,” and awarded Quill the title of King Gannet for the duration of their stay on the Stac.

Davie wanted to shake Quill’s hand. All the other boys knew they could have done just as well, given the chance. My favourite event was who Mr Farris was about to kill himself, but Quill and the whales prevented that from happening. I would sincerely recommend this book to young readers. If Janie and Micah loved each other so much, I don't understand why they didn't just ask each other out. They could have saved themselves so much unnecessary drama if they had just been honest with one another. a b Flood, Alison (2018-06-18). "Carnegie medal winner slams children's book publishers for 'accessible' prose". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023 . Retrieved 2023-06-06.

LoveReading4Kids Says

Where the World Ends is a Junior Library Guild book. [6] Booklist included it on their 2020 "Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth" list. [7] Awards for Where the World Ends Year Where the World Ends is a 2017 young adult novel by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrated by Jane Milloy. It won the 2018 Carnegie Medal. [1] [2] Reception [ edit ] Davie looked too green—in every sense of the word—to stand up to Kenneth and his bullying. But when he puked, he chose to do it in Kenneth’s lap—an inspired revenge, thought Quill appreciatively.

I thought the character development was great and I really liked the POV we read from, a boy called Quilliam. We really got to know everyone as this book progressed and I loved that. The plot was really gripping, despite it's one location, and I enjoyed learning more about their island of Hirta through memories, dreams and stories. I could never tell where the plot was going and it made me cry quite a few times. It's best to go into this book not knowing much about the plot, but I definitely recommend it. Next door neighbors Janie and Micah, secret friends secret friends and soul mates never speak in public. Janie is bubbly and popular, Micah has just one friend. When Janie moves to the other side of town, each falls into some type of mental illness (though quite possibly the move just escalated their conditions). She's the leader, he the follower. The novel is very loosely based on a true story. Revealed in the end by the author, the only true part of the story is that in the 1700's a group of young men did get stranded for 9 months and survive. That is literally all that is known. No other details survive about the true account as to how they survived, etc. The premise for this book, because of the true story, is interesting. But this novel, which details their time being stranded on the sea stac, left me feeling bored except for a a few parts. My heart aches for the beauty of Amy Zhang's style of writing, reminding me of Jandy Nelson. It's effortless and so easy to immerse yourself, even if I couldn't connect emotionally to Janie's character.

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I sometimes forget how extraordinary YA can be. I read a lot of YA books because they’re my guilty pleasure – sure, sometimes they can be cheesy as a grilled cheese sandwich and most of the time they’re rather predictable, but I just love how fun and positive they are. Whenever I finish one I always get that feeling I can’t get from any other kind of book – that feeling where I want to take over the world. Independent Bookshop Week Book Award 2019". Archived from the original on 21 April 2019 . Retrieved 15 October 2019. This story follows Quilliam and other boys. They were going to a remote sea stac to harvest sea birds for food, feathers and oil. Disaster strikes when the boat they were expecting does not return to collect them. Their only theory for this is that the world has ended. I enjoyed this book because even in the long, tough winter months, the author kept control of the book therefore it was not drowned with dreariness and sadness. She had a way of keeping the book exciting even when they were struggling to survive. Also, I loved the little quirks and values that made the uniqueness of each character, for example, Quilliam's excessive use of story-telling to distract everyone from their horrible situation. Their isolated existence continues and the dynamics of the relationships between the stac’s new inhabitants shift. Quill holds on to his memories of Murdina and he supports one of the youngest boys Davie. Quill’s friend John confides a secret to him. Meanwhile, an older boy – Kenneth – acts the bully.

That's just the summary of their toxic relationship. The plot, however, is a completely different story. This book is a ridiculously melodramatic and metaphorical contemporary focusing on a teenage girl who is constantly throwing a pity party for herself.

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Another thing was how it kept being thrown in my face with each chapter. What happened to Janie? Something happened to Janie? WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO FREAKING JANIE? Just... stop. It came to a point where I didn't care what was happening in between, I just wanted to get to the ending so I could prove myself right on my guess. Needless to say, those two literary devices work best when they aren't so obtrusive and the author can keep your attention focused on the current events, and not just the past or future ones to come.