Monday, August 19, 2013

ARC Review: Tumble & Fall

Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts
3.5/5 stars
Farrar Straus Giroux BYR, 2013
372 pages
YA Contemporary
Scheduled to release September 17

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to read this book solely because of how lovely I found the cover. My expectation of this was that it would be a crazy starcrossed romance filled with passion and young adults racing against the clock of the end of the world (I may or may not have read the official synopsis; okay, I basically just skimmed it.) Needless to say what I actually got was quite a bit different.

Yes, there is an asteroid heading toward earth that will result in destruction and yes, this book does follow young adults over the course of a week as the residents of earth prepare for the end. But it's not very romantic, despite what I feel the cover promises. We get three different perspectives of teens on an island struggling with lingering relationship issues, mostly familial but also romantic as they also wait to see what the asteroid will bring.

Right off the bat I noticed that the story was narrated in third person. Though I have enjoyed third-person narration, I tend to feel a more personal connection when it is first person and this book was no exception. Though I sympathized with the stories and situations of all three narrators, I never felt very emotionally tied to them no matter what they underwent. Even as I anticipated death for all of them, I never felt that sad.

Who are our three protagonists and how do they tie together? To answer the second question first, they don't have much of a connection; they just all have ties to an island and the final chapters put them all on the beach together.

First introduced is Sienna who is just released from a psychiatric home, picked up by her father to spend their last days as a family with her younger brother and the father's fiance. Reuniting with a childhood friend sparks a romantic relationship but also challenges Sienna's view on mental health and family. Second is Zan, mourning the death of her boyfriend Leo for ten months but suddenly confronted with information that might mean he wasn't as great as she always thought. And our third narrator is Caden, whose alcoholic mother and father who abandoned them means he has some lingering questions. I think I would have appreciated these more if they had tied together more directly. I understand that they all had unfinished business but a friendship among the three might have made it mean more to me.

Overall: An interesting read but one that lacked an emotional punch. I also feel like the cover promises a far more romantic story than it actually delivers.

Other Opinions:
Carina's Books
Realm of Fiction 
Scott Reads It
Young at Heart

36 comments:

  1. I agree that the story wasn't heart-wrenchingly emotional, but I still enjoyed it. I also thought that all three of their stories would somehow converge..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it would have really helped me if they had converged; as it was, it just seemed a bit random.

      Delete
  2. I've heard some mixed reviews and frankly, I don't think I want to read Tumble & Fall anymore. The cover is amazing but the story doesn't seem to be as emotional as I'd hope for. Also, it seems like everyone accepts dying and I find that weird. Thanks for the review though.

    -P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel like I'd accept dying under such circumstances-they try to deflect the asteroid but are unsuccessful. If I hadn't had a copy, I probably would have skipped this one because of all the reviews.

      Delete
  3. I have heard from others too it lacks the emotional punch and I would expect from a book like this. I have it to review or I would prob skip too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, as I said above, if I didn't have it for review, I probably wouldn't have read it.

      Delete
  4. It really is a gorgeous cover! I'm actually doing a post soon on book covers that have people laying down on the ground/floor and looking up at the camera--there's a ton of them out there! But this one might be my fave.

    I'm not a huge fan of "end of the world disaster" scenario's in the books I read--I think that film Armageddon totally turned me off to them, so I wasn't that interested in reading this one. But I did enjoy your thoughts on it and looking at that pretty cover again:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excited for your cover post! I can't think of any others at the moment but the gorgeousness of this one is what drew me in initially.

      Delete
  5. Great review. <3 I actually hated this book, to be honest. Sigh. The cover is SO PRETTY, and I thought it would be amazing. Yet it wasn't. Which was a shame :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wanted so much more out of this. Hope your reading is going better now!

      Delete
  6. The characters all sound totally flawed, with miserable lives. Then add in an asteroid is coming to end the world, well I think this one is just a wee bit too depressing for my reading tastes. Excellent review and great insight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It wasn't as depressing as you might expect but it sure wasn't a ball of fun.

      Delete
  7. I could have sworn I commented on this. Oh well! I've seen a lot of negative reviews for this one, mostly talking about how boring it was. Too bad about this one, having a connection to the characters is very important!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm...I've been checking my spam filter regularly and I didn't see anything...

      I feel very happy that so many other people agree with me that this is dull-I hate when I don't agree with the majority.

      Delete
  8. I've read a lot of okay and negative reviews for this book so I'm going to skip this one. The characters sound like characters I wouldn't like as well. Thanks for the review!
    -Danna

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've seen most people pan this book too and I think it's going to turn off a lot of bloggers and I can't blame them for listening to this feedback.

      Delete
  9. Awe, I have to read this soon. It doesn't sound like I thought it would be. Thanks for the honest thought on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looking forward to your thoughts-maybe it will work for you (sure hope so!)

      Delete
  10. I've heard that it didn't really live up to the premise or deliver the emotional whoosh that people expected. Hate when that happens! Nice review.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought the concept totally lent itself to emotion and was surprised not to feel that.

      Delete
  11. I always suffer that failed connection also when there are multiple narrators...ok maybe not always but pretty frequently.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I usually love multiple narrators but it just did not work for me this time around.

      Delete
  12. It's always a letdown when covers don't really accurately describe a novel. This one does scream romance to me. It has an interesting premise, overall though.

    Thanks for your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you agree with me :) I should be used to covers being misleading but it seems to trip me up every time.

      Delete
  13. Maybe the book would have worked better in first person. I know that multiple narrators can sometimes allow you to get to know the characters better but it looks like it didn't quite work in this case. Based on the lovely cover, I would have expected a romance that focused on two people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think first person would have made it way more emotional for me though I do respect the author for going a different direction than the typical YA novel narrative tactic.

      Delete
  14. I don't know, this sounds like it could be super emotional if it was in first person and had that real connection to them, so maybe for me it would be better this way. I just get SO into the story that the emotional ones just stress me out! But I don't know... And does this one have a HEA?
    And yeah, that cover doesn't really fit even though it's very pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you planning to read this? I'd love to check out your thoughts and see if the third person did work for you.

      Delete
  15. This book sounds really interesting. I've been seeing it around a lot lately. I'm glad you found some good in the story. Great review!

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've seen a ton of reviews for this and sadly most agree with me for some points :(

      Delete
  16. I have to agree with you– the cover looks really promising, but sorry it wasn't as good as you expected! And I generally don't like third-person either, because like you, I like to be emotionally connected with the characters. Oh well, I'll still give this one a try!! Great review :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you do give it a try and enjoy it a lot-I'm sure there is an audience for it.

      Delete
  17. I finished this a week ago and I'm still pissed about the ending. It was what I expected, but I'm still mad. You can bet I'll be thinking about that when Coutts' next book comes out.

    Also, I wasn't really a fan of Zan's story. While I admire the author for taking an unconventional route with her plot, the message kind of disturbed me. Whether or not Leo was you-know-what, Zan's refusal to move on was unhealthy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't mind the end actually, perhaps because I was expecting it. If it had gone some other way, I would have been thrown.

      Delete
  18. A few of my friends have been saying that I might enjoy this one. It definitely seems like a library read for me... I will try anything, I swear. The lack of emotional punch though is so hard to get over. Hm...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you do give it a try. I value your opinion and if it ends up being positive, it will cause me to reconsider the book for myself.

      Delete

Thank you for commenting-I love to read your thoughts! Feel free to leave a link to your latest post so I can stop by!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...