Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a wonderful debut novel from Kali Wallace. It is so refreshing to see a young adult novel that doesn’t need to have a romance. It really is such a feminist and empowering book in so many ways. For one, the main character, Breezy, is bisexual, but it is neither the focal point of the novel or even a big deal. She is a teenager who happens to be bisexual, and that is it. Secondly, Breezy isn’t your typical teen female protagonist. She is smart and driven. Her goal is to become an astronaut, and while she engages with boys and girls in her school, she is not boy-crazy like (unfortunately) most girls in YA novels tend to be. She does not care so much what people think of her, especially when rumors start spreading about her alleged promiscuity. It is my hope that girls will read this book and identify with the strong, independent, and sometimes emotional Breezy.
The real theme of the novel, though, is how Breezy deals with a literally life-changing event. The novel starts off with Breezy waking from the dead one year after her untimely murder. She has to learn to navigate the world in a body that possesses new and strange abilities while absorbing her family’s grief by watching from afar. She has to learn that there is a whole world of monsters out there that humans don’t know about, and that she has now joined their ranks. At just 17 years old, she has to grapple with the ideas that she can never see her family again, that she will never become an astronaut, that she will never be ‘normal’ again, and that quite possibly, she might just be lonely for the rest of her life. There is a moment at the end of the book when she sits by a lake and imagines all the different directions her life could have taken and it is the real scene-stealer. She lives the ultimate ‘why me’ moment – why was I murdered? I was smart, good, did everything right. Why did this happen to me?
Breezy’s story is both heartbreaking and enlightening. Wallace’s writing is so fantastic because there are moments in the book where you feel like you’re right there with Breezy, and in those moments, you just want to reach out and hold her, but since you can’t, your heart just silently bursts along with her.
I loved this book. Loved. I hope that Kali Wallace continues writing about Breezy. I need to know if she is okay. I need to know how and if she moves on.
Side note: a favorite minor character is Steve, the small and freakish monster who lives in a basement and loves Where the Wild Things Are.
Marie Hendry 