Novel: The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma | Goodreads
Release Date: March 24, 2015
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.
On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.
Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries…
What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?
In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.
Wow. What a haunting, heartbreaking, suspenseful, poetic book. I wish I could open this review with the kind of eloquence The Walls Around Us contains, the kind of eloquence it deserves, but the story left me speechless, my thoughts jumbled and rattling inside my head. So rather than attempting to do this book justice (I can admit up-front that I could never), I will instead list a few brilliant aspects of the novel, hoping to showcase a bit of what makes this book so stunning.
I first fell in love with this novel’s gorgeous writing style. From page one, every sentence glows with the kind of brilliant beauty that cannot be taught, that could only come from the most poetic of minds. I do not count myself as a writer, really—at least not a fiction writer—but I would still give nearly anything to be able to craft sentences like “We were gasoline running for a lit match” and “She didn’t look foam-mouthed or haunted and on edge, her head full of razors.” And these lines are far from the best The Walls Around Us has to offer; they are simply snippets taken from random chapters, and equally and exceedingly beautiful lines can be found on every other page. I highly recommend this book to writers looking to absorb style pointers or anyone wanting to become immersed in stunning prose that flows like poetry.
While I could easily recommend The Walls Around Us based on its writing alone, the story’s plotting is possibly even more impressive. I have seen a few reviewers call the storyline slow, but I have to disagree; I cannot remember the last time I was as obsessed with a plot as I was with this one. Told in alternating perspectives and shuffled time periods that create a complex-but-never confusing story, this book poses questions in the early chapters and does not answer them until the middle, the 3/4 mark, or even the last page. Between real-life mysteries of innocence and guilt and the supernatural secrets of ghostly justice that entwine, Nova Ren Suma’s wonderfully frustrating tendency to hold back on revelations creates a suspenseful, addictive plot. And when readers finally do uncover the solutions to the story’s many mysteries, the answers are both haunting and satisfying.
Above all else, Suma’s beautiful writing and brilliant plotting work together to convey a barrage of emotions. The Walls Around Us tells a story of innocence and guilt, the feelings that go along with each, and the pain that results when the two are confused. Characters experience regret, loneliness, anger, and so much more—and thanks to this book’s vivid storytelling, readers do too. On top of that, The Walls Around Us encapsulates the emotions of prison life—the shame, the sadness, the stifling restriction—that are only compounded for the undeserving innocent. I found myself tearing up more than once for this book’s jailed characters and their real-life counterparts (especially the innocent, but even, to some extent, the guilty).
I cannot say much more about this book without eroding some of the mystical magic that comes from entering the story with a open, clear mind. But I can say this: read this book if you are looking for knockout writing or plotting. Read this book if you are looking for a spooky, haunting, and atmospheric (but not scary) story for fall. Meanwhile, I will be catching up on the rest of the author’s surely-phenomenal books.
