Mundie Moms

Monday, July 30, 2012

Book Review: Survive by Alex Morel


Published by: RazorBill 
To Be Released on: August 2nd, 2012
Source: ARC from publisher to review
4 stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Sneak Peak: Read an excerpt


Hatchet meets Lost in this modern-day adventure tale of one girl's reawakening

Jane is on a plane on her way home to Montclair, New Jersey, from a mental hospital. She is about to kill herself. Just before she can swallow a lethal dose of pills, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black. Jane wakes up amidst piles of wreckage and charred bodies on a snowy mountaintop. There is only one other survivor: a boy named Paul, who inspires Jane to want to fight for her life for the first time.
Jane and Paul scale icy slopes and huddle together for warmth at night, forging an intense emotional bond. But the wilderness is a vast and lethal force, and only one of them will survive -quoted from Goodreads



Survive is an intense, incredibly fast paced read that's full of triumph, tragedy, heartbreak, and will power. It's that will to survive that will aid Jane through the darkest moment of her life.... I'm not just talking about her desire to follow in her father's footstep to commit suicide. With all odds stacked against her, and the other survivor of a deadly plane crash in the middle of the mountains, Jane finds the hope, love and the strength to live. The book's title, SURVIVE has more than one meaning in this book, and I loved two different meanings it has in Jane's story.


Alex Morel did an awesome job with keeping his story's darker, and sometimes hard to write about subject deep, without going over board. Despite the fact I had a hard time connecting with Jane during the first part of the book, I loved her during the second half. Alex did a wonderful job at allowing me to see the changes in Jane. The first part of the book was spent on providing what Jane's agenda was (why she was flying home etc), how she got into the mental facility she's in, and her struggle to come to terms with all she's gone through, and why she's set on taking her life. Though Alex allowed me to understand why Jane was set on taking her life, I didn't connect with her during this time. I had a lot of issues with her reasoning behind wanting to do this. Despite that, it wasn't until the second half of the book, when the plane crashes did I start to connect with her. 


Talk about gut wrenching, this story is brimming with emotion on a whole different level. I thought I was prepared with what to except with Jane's story, but this story entails way more than I was anticipating. During the second half of the story, which takes places during and after the plane crash, I felt that Jane completely transforms into a much stronger character, and was much more engaging for me. She all the sudden had this spark of life in her, and had this incredible desire to live, and over come all the odds stacked against her. I loved the role Paul, the snarky, broken boy who's also had his fair share of heartbreak, plays in Jane's life  on the flight and especially after the crash. Though they had only met on their flight, he changed the way Jane felt, and how she viewed life. He pushed her like no one else had before. 


WOW, Alex created an incredibly engaging, and realistic crash site. Every emotion and the danger that encompasses this part of the book felt real. I grew up loving Hatchet, and I know this story has been compared to a modern day, older version of that book. Normally I'm not a fan books being compared, but I definitely agree with that comparison. It's well written, fast paced book, with the right amount of length to hook you. I will warn you, there is an incredibly heartbreaking scene in this book that will leave you a little broken, but it's oh so worth picking up the book. You'll miss out on all that happens leading up to that point. One a side note, there is some minor language, and this book does talk about suicide, a lot, and in a very tasteful manner. If you're a fan of survival stories, you must pick this one up! 


Be sure to visit the blog on Saturday when Alex Morel stops by to talk about his debut, and enter to win one of 3 copies I'll be giving away.

3 comments:

  1. I love darker books with emotions that pull you in. It sounds like Jane really grows over the course of the novel. I will be checking this out. Thanks for the review!

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    1. You're welcome! Thank you for the comment Kris. Jane grows a lot through out the course of the book, and she does so in a way I had excepted given all that happens. It's definitely a darker book, and really well done. I hope you enjoy it!

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  2. Sounds really intense. I'm adding it to my TBR list now!

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