Review: Those That Wake by Jesse Karp

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Publishing Date: March 21rst, 2011
ISBN: 9780547553115
Pages: 340 pgs

My Rating: 2.5 stars

Summary from GoodReads:

New York City’s spirit has been crushed. People walk the streets with their heads down, withdrawing from one another and into the cold comfort of technology. Teenagers Mal and Laura have grown up in this reality. They’ve never met. Seemingly, they never will.

But on the same day Mal learns his brother has disappeared, Laura discovers her parents have forgotten her. Both begin a search for their families that leads them to the same truth: someone or something has wiped the teens from the memories of every person they have ever known. Thrown together, Mal and Laura must find common ground as they attempt to reclaim their pasts.

My Review:

I received this novel from NetGalley and I was looking forward to reading it. It is described as a type of dystopian novel and I usually really enjoy books like that. The book started out strong and it hooked me in with the characters and the plot. I really wanted to know what was happening to Mal's brother and also why Laura's parents forget who she is. I think that's why I ended up being so disappointed by this book. I was really interested in the beginning and I felt that by the middle of the book it kind of fell flat. I found that Karp never really fully explains the world in which the characters live. A lot of what is happening is implied and at times I had to ask myself if I missed something because I just didn't understand what was happening. There were also times when the plot slipped into someone else's mind but I kept asking myself is this person hallucinating or are they dreaming? I had a very difficult time following the plot near the end as well. I just didn't understand what was going on and I found that frustrating. I took English Literature as my major in university and I am usually pretty good at deciphering metaphor; however at points in this novel I felt a bit stupid and wondered if I just didn't get it because I was missing something. Overall I give this book 2.5 stars out of 5. I really really wanted to like this book but in the end it just didn't do it for me.