Thursday, February 5, 2015

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Hey, readers! Many of you who've been to the Festival before have probably heard or met A.S. King, one of our numerous alumni. Once again, she'll be joining us at TBF, and while you're waiting for May to come around you should totally check out her novel Ask the Passengers!

Astrid Jones wishes she could confide in someone. But that's hard to do in a small Pennsylvania town, especially when everyone has their own dirty little secrets to hide. As for Astrid, she feels like her secrets are even bigger than everyone else's. Not only is her mother an emotionally-distant workaholic and her father's a pothead -- Astrid might also be falling in love with a girl. With no one she feels she can totally trust, Astrid turns instead to the passengers in the airplanes up at 30,000 feet, pouring out to them the love she wishes that she could properly give to and receive from the people around her. How is she supposed to figure out herself if she can't reveal who she truly is to anyone else? And what will become of all these secrets?

Ask the Passengers has been one of my favourite books ever since it was first released in 2012. I was going through a hard time, and Astrid was one of the few characters I could relate to and take comfort in. Ever since I read it for the first time, Ask the Passengers has been a constant in my life; I've re-read it at least 8 times, and during hard times it would always be in my bookbag. A.S. King's writing is always incredible, but Ask the Passengers is some of her best work, completely captivating the reader. By having such an intellectually-driven character as Astrid, the reader is not only put into her story but her mind as well, which makes the reading experience so much richer. And the subtle aspects of magical realism really add to the story, especially the literary quality.

At any rate, you all really ought to check out A.S. King's amazing novel Ask the Passengers. I know you'll love it!

Check back next Wednesday for a new book review!

Happy reading!
Elizabeth

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