Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams

Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams
Buy Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Catherine Bakes
Summary: What begins as a fresh start soon spirals out of control.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 208	Date: March 2011
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0312555122
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Lacey wakes up one summer morning ready to start her new job at the library. Maybe she'll actually make her first real friend. It's also Lacey's mother's first day too, working at the local grocery store. But, Lacey's mother is ill – she hears voices, or to be more specific she hears the voice of Lacey's dead Grandfather telling her what to do. But they need the money after Lacey's mother spent all their money on tinned food ready for the end of the world that Lacey's Grandfather had told her was coming. Everything starts off well, and Lacey even manages to become friends with one of the cool kids, Aaron, on the bus to the library. But, as the day goes on Lacey's memories come flooding back and what started off as a normal day starts to spiral out of control.

This book is completely heartbreaking. I found it difficult to read, just because of how emotional it made me, but at the same time I was compelled to carry on reading, and sucked it up. William's portrays Lacey's loneliness and her hope for things to get better in a sadly beautiful and brilliant way. Lacey is such a well-written character that she isn't a character at all, she's real. In fact all of the characters in this book are so convincing that they could easily be real. Lacey's mother is so believable and accurate it scared me.

This book takes place over just the one day, which makes reading it both a bit of a slog and makes it whizz by. The reason I found it slow in places was just the shear amount of internal dialogue and flashbacks, which though were necessary did slow the pace of the plot. However, having the whole book take place over one day also allows the plot to move forward as it does, to a poignant ending.

I really would recommend this book to anyone – it's not just for teens or children. The issue of mental health and the stigma surrounding it is universal, and Lacey's story is one of love trying to overcome fear.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

Further reading suggestion: If you liked this book the try reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon or Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn.

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