Review: A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

Finished: July 31, 2011

Synopsis: Rosalinda Fitzroy is locked away in a stasis tube in an abandoned basement for sixty-two years before she is discovered. She has gone into a chemically induced sleep and has been forgotten. She wakes up to discover everyone she has ever known is dead and gone and after going through the “Dark Times” the world itself is entirely changed.

Thoughts: A Long, Long Sleep reached “page turner” status for me. The set up was very intriguing. It reminded me a bit of Beth Revis’ Across the Universe. At its core this novel was about something else entirely. I thought the way the emotional abuse was displayed was very realistic. This book will hit home for anyone who has ever been a victim of emotional abuse at the hands of a relative (or at the hands of anyone really). It certainly brought up some emotions in me and caused me to look at myself from an outside perspective. I found a lot of myself (good and bad) in Rose.

I also have to give the author props for the way the romance was handled in this book. The boy does not instantly fall for the girl the moment he looks into her eyes. He’s a normal teenage boy who hardly knows her and this isn’t one of those bullshit “instant love” YA novels where the girl is swept off of her feet. Don’t come here looking for that. In fact, there are multiple people in Rose’s life that she cares for, as in usually the case in real life, and none of these relationships are singled out by the author. She does an excellent job of displaying Rose’s relationships, past and present, and there isn’t even a love triangle to be found. Nor is Rose treated as if every boy she knows will instantly fall at her feet. She is just a normal girl with normal relationships and she knows rejection as well as the rest of us do.

Even if she doesn’t believe it at first, Rose doesn’t need to be saved, she can save herself. This wasn’t a perfect book (debut book for the author) and the writing wasn’t spectacular but I think the story shines through that.

Rating:

Four out of Five Coffees