Wreck Review

Title: Wreck: A Novel

Author: Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Trigger Warning: Character Death, Suicidal Thoughts and Actions

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: April 2, 2019

Synopsis

Sometimes loss has its own timetable.

Set on the shores of Lake Superior, Wreck follows high school junior Tobin Oliver as she navigates her father’s diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Steve’s life as a paramedic and a runner comes to an abrupt halt just as Tobin is preparing her application for a scholarship to art school. With the help of Steve’s personal care assistant (and family friend) Ike, Tobin attends to both her photography and to Steve as his brain unexpectedly fails right along with his body.

Tobin struggles to find a “normal” life, especially as Steve makes choices about how his own will end, and though she fights hard, Tobin comes to realize that respecting her father’s decision is the ultimate act of love.

Review

A special thank you to Netgalley and Skyhorse Press for providing a free advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much and it absolutely destroyed me. It follows the story of Tobin, starting when her dad is diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. It is was a really intense read but also really good and I loved reading it.

The buildup was really good because the whole book you know that Steve is going to die but the way that everything slowly goes down is just absolutely amazing and I definitely got more invested than I initially expected to be, especially because of some of the really heartbreaking moments that occur. These unexpected moments made me cry and made the ending even more intense.

It wasn't just all sad either. I know that I personally would not be able to deal with that but even the lighthearted moments made sure to have hints and mentions of how what lay ahead was not going to be so pleasant. The dad jokes particularly were great, both as characterization and to keep the mood from becoming too dark with everything else that was going on. I loved Tobin's interactions with her friends, particularly Sid as no one really does know what to do. But that's life and the not knowing how to act is part of what made everything more realistic. The brother/sister relationship with Ike and Tobin was awesome because it was super healthy and at first I was afraid that it was going to be romantic which would have been creepy with the major age gap but I was thrilled with how this ended up developing.

The beginning just took a little bit too long to get into. I thought I wasn't going to like this book at first, but as soon as things got rolling, I really ended up enjoying it. If you can push through the beginning, the rest is definitely worth it. During later events in the story the pacing was excellent but it just did not fit right with some of the beginning events in the story. Also, Gracie's texting really annoyed me. Like, to the point were I was about to text my best friend who is more savvy and ask if anyone actually uses hashtags in texts. Because every single text annoyed me.

Seriously though, I loved this book and thought it was really powerful. It felt realistic and I cried a lot. I love how everyone doesn't know how to act and the choices that they end up making. There was so much to love about this book and I easily recommend that people should read it. Just make sure you're prepared to cry first.


I absolutely adored this book even though it made me cry really freaking hard. What was the last book that made you cry (in a happy or not happy way or a mixture of both)?

Thanks for reading!
Alyssa