From
Adi Alsaid, the acclaimed author of Let's Get Lost, Never
Sometimes Always, and North of Happy
Every
year, lock-in night changes lives. This year, it might just change the world.
Central
International School's annual lock-in is legendary -- and for six students,
this year's lock-in is the answer to their dreams. The chance to finally win
the contest. Kiss the guy. Make a friend. Become the star of a story that will
be passed down from student to student for years to come.
But
then a group of students, led by Marisa Cuevas, stage an eco-protest and chain
themselves to the doors, vowing to keep everyone trapped inside until their
list of demands is met. While some students rally to the cause, others are
devastated as they watch their plans fall apart. And Marisa, once so certain of
her goals, must now decide just how far she'll go to attain them.
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Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.
The blurb certainly grabs your
attention, but unfortunately, the delivery and logistics failed to deliver. One
of the pros of this book was the diverse cast of characters. This makes
sense since this whole event occurred at an international school with students
from all over the world. Another pro was Marisa's goal. It's applaudable that
she's willing to put herself on the line for her cause, but her execution was...
idiotic. Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa chained herself to a
tree to gain the attention of a cute boy and satisfy her environmentalist
needs? This book is like that episode, but times a hundred and a complete
emotional mess when it reached the breaking point. The school-sponsored event
was one night where the students could just hang out with their friends and
have fun. And then comes Marisa and a group of students, who chained themselves
to the doors in protest. Marisa and her group are serious about protesting
climate change and want their list of demands met before anyone can leave. Gold
star for taking action, and they did take into consideration the logistics of
housing people overnight. The premise of the story is interesting until you
look closer at the nitty, gritty details. While in the scope of today's
society, if you want to make a point or bring attention to a cause, social
media is your friend and bold action is needed. However, if you push away the
good intentions, you see the situation in a new light. Marisa and her group are
essentially holding the people in the school as hostages. Let's call a spade a
spade. It's mindboggling to even consider this a sane course of action;
bold, yes, but also moronic. So many things could have gone wrong during the
locked-in protest. What if someone needed their medication or suddenly went
into anaphylactic shock? Again, I'm not
knocking Marisa and her group for caring about the environment and climate
change, but by the way, the story was written, it went from zero to sixty real
fast. The narrative bounced from person to person; I just couldn't connect
to any of the characters or their emotional turmoil. I understand that as a
work of fiction, authors are free in their artistic expression to spin the
story however they like, but this plotline was too fantastical and lacked real-world consequences. Realistically, if this happened in real life, Marisa and
her group would likely face criminal charges or get time in juvie or something.
For the sake of the story, some of the protestors' demands were met, but not
all of them. In the end, I just couldn't connect with this book in general.
3 stars
About the Author
Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City. He attended
college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He's now back in Mexico City,
where he writes, coaches basketball, and makes every dish he eats as spicy as
possible. In addition to Mexico, he's lived in Tel Aviv, Las Vegas and
Monterey, California. His books include Let's Get Lost, Never Always Sometimes,
and North of Happy. Visit Adi online at www.SomewhereOverTheSun.com, or on
Twitter: @AdiAlsaid.
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