Still Life with Tornado
- ISBN-10
- 1101994894
- ISBN-13
- 9781101994894
- Category
- Young Adult Fiction
- Pages
- 304
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-10-11
- Publisher
- Penguin
- Author
- A.S. King
Description
A heartbreaking and mindbending story of a talented teenage artist's awakening to the brokenness of her family from acclaimed Printz award-winner A.S. King. Sixteen-year-old Sarah can't draw. This is a problem, because as long as she can remember, she has "done the art." She thinks she's having an existential crisis. And she might be right; she does keep running into past and future versions of herself as she wanders the urban ruins of Philadelphia. Or maybe she's finally waking up to the tornado that is her family, the tornado that six years ago sent her once-beloved older brother flying across the country for a reason she can't quite recall. After decades of staying together "for the kids" and building a family on a foundation of lies and domestic violence, Sarah's parents have reached the end. Now Sarah must come to grips with years spent sleepwalking in the ruins of their toxic marriage. As Sarah herself often observes, nothing about her pain is remotely original—and yet it still hurts. Insightful, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful, this is a vivid portrait of abuse, survival, resurgence that will linger with readers long after the last page. “Read this book, whatever your age. You may find it’s the exact shape and size of the hole in your heart.”—The New York Times “Surreal and thought-provoking.”—People Magazine ★ ”A deeply moving, frank, and compassionate exploration of trauma and resilience, filled to the brim with incisive, grounded wisdom.” —Booklist, starred review ★ ”King writes with the confidence of a tightrope walker working without a net.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review ★"[King] blurs reality, truth, violence, emotion, creativity, and art in a show of respect for YA readers."—Horn Book Magazine, starred review ★ “King’s brilliance, artistry, and originality as an author shine through in this thought-provoking work. […] An unforgettable experience.” SLJ, starred review
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
We Are Still Tornadoes: A Novel
By Michael Kun, Susan Mullen"Growing up across the street from each other, Scott and Cath have been best friends their entire lives.
-
I Crawl Through It
By A.S. KingThe genius of acclaimed author A.S. King reaches new heights in this groundbreaking work of surrealist fiction; it will mesmerize readers with its deeply affecting exploration of how we crawl through traumatic experience--and find the way ...
-
Tornado of Life: A Doctor's Journey through Constraints and Creativity in the ER
By Jay BaruchIn Tornado of Life, ER physician Jay Baruch offers a series of short, powerful, and affecting essays that capture the stories of ER patients in all their complexity and messiness.
-
Dig
By A.S. King"--Bookpage, starred review The Shoveler, the Freak, CanIHelpYou?, Loretta the Flea-Circus Ring Mistress, and First-Class Malcolm. These are the five teenagers lost in the Hemmings family's maze of tangled secrets.
-
Tornado Weather: A Novel
By Deborah E. KennedyAll my gratitude to Jonathan Smith, Marsha Dutton, Kathy Barbour, Dee Goertz, Kay Stokes, Melissa Pope Eden, Peter Orner, Nancy Zafris, Kay Sloan, Keith Banner, Eric Goodman, Tim Melley, Jim Palmarini, Don Corathers, and Doug Driscoll.
-
Otis and the Tornado
By Loren Long**Read by country music superstar Trace Adkins!** **The New York Times bestseller and companion to Otis, the official 2013 Jumpstart Read for the Record selection!** Otis and all his farm friends are enjoying a summer's day, but the bull ...
-
Falling to Earth
By Kate SouthwoodThis “absolutely gorgeous” novel follows Paul Graves and his young family in the year after the storm as they struggle to comprehend their own fate and that of their devastated town (The New York Times).
-
The Tornado: A Novel
By Jake Burt"One of the best stories about bullying for middle grades.
-
Latasha and the Little Red Tornado
By Michael ScottoLatasha and the Little Red Tornado tells the story of Latasha Gandy, a precocious and inventive third-grader who lives in Pittsburgh with her hardworking mother and a naughty puppy named Ella Fitzgerald.
-
The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras
By Brantley HargroveThe Man Who Caught the Storm is an “adrenaline rush of a tornado chase…Readers from all across the spectrum will enjoy this” (Library Journal, starred review) unforgettable exploration of obsession and the extremes of the natural ...