[blocktext align=”center”]Maybe, long ago, we used to be good. Maybe all little girls are good in the beginning.[/blocktext]
Nova Ren Suma’s latest novel is touted on social media as “Orange is the New Black Swan,” but the haunting ghost story is darker than even those comparisons suggest.
THE WALLS AROUND US is told in alternating perspectives: Violet, a Juilliard-bound ballerina with a damning secret, and Amber, a prisoner in a girls’ detention center with secrets of her own. The only connection between them is Orianna, Violet’s former best friend and Amber’s new cellmate.
Through flashbacks and introspection, the two narrators reveal dark pasts and unjust circumstances that plague those around them. Amber and Violet prove that though people don’t always get what they deserve, sometimes they get exactly what is coming to them. A unique plot with lyrical prose harmonize together for a twisted tale of murder and betrayal, all working up to a shocking but satisfying conclusion.
Equal parts psychological thriller and supernatural horror, this lingering, ominous novel is not for the faint of heart. I read it on an airplane, ignoring everything around me for the few hours it took to finish, and my heart was pounding by the end.
Violet is despicable from her first page. She is arrogant, certain of her superiority to everyone around her, and the reader loses sympathy for her character quickly. Amber’s voice, though distinctive to her, spoke for every girl in the prison, as though they were all one and the same –
[blocktext align=”center”]We were gasoline rushing for a lit match. We were bared teeth. Balled fists. A stampede of slick feet. We went wild, like anyone would. We lost our fool heads.[/blocktext]
It’s easy to guess a couple of the big reveals in the plot, which was my biggest complaint with the story. Regardless, the reader stays riveted through its entirety, especially the last seventy pages when everything comes together and gets intense. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if we found this book on nearly every Best Young Adult of 2015 list. I’ve never read a novel by Suma before this one, but if it’s any indication of her usual style, I’ll definitely seek her out again.
I’d recommend this book to people who loved Black Swan, and who love spooky stories in general. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is easily creeped out or looking for a happy ending. I’d also suggest readers be 14 years old or older, because of graphic violence and a brief sexual scene.
4 out of 5 stars
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Amber Midgett is assistant manager at Main Point Books and a graduate student in Publishing at Rosemont College. She grew up in North Carolina, and her ultimate fandoms are Harry Potter and Doctor Who. She could recommend a book to probably anyone. Find her at Letters from a [Future] Editor and on Twitter at @ambermidgett.
