Torn+Away

//Torn Away// by Jennifer Brown



This book grabbed me right away. It starts with Jersey Cameron being mean to her little sister as her sister and mom head out to dance class. Tornado warnings and then... Yes, it is teenage angst, but it's more than that. It's about learning to survive, facing the truth, and opening your eyes and heart. I debated whether it was 4 or 5 stars, but I gave it 5 because I read it in less than 24 hours and I was so sad it was over. Jennifer Brown, you hit another home run. (I admit I'm a huge fan of hers!) I recommend for the list. ~Kathy Watson, Kimball Library, Atkinson

Jersey has a pretty normal life, with theater-geek friends, a decent relationship with her mother, younger-and-sometimes-annoying sister, and step-father, and then the tornado hits. The tornado was traumatizing enough for me, but the aftermath was worse. The hits just kept coming, and I found myself completely horrified and in tears for much of the book. It's a good disaster/survival/adventure book, with serious emotional pull. Great for both boys and girls. -Kirsten Rundquist Corbett, Sandown PL

Reading this book came at a hard time for me. I had just lost someone that I was fairly close to and so this book made me quite emotionally distraught. I think I still would have been distraught regardless of that. This was such a raw and honest novel. Jersey was all over the place emotionally and it was totally realistic. Her situation just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Since this book takes place over only a short time, there is no real happy ending. Things start to look up though, so that's a nice thing. I didn't really care much for most of the secondary characters, they all fell a bit flat. I did like Kolby and wished he played a bigger part in this novel. I feel like this novel took place in the moment. There was no past and there was no future, we were thrust right into the moment with Jersey. I think this is why some of the story and characters were underdeveloped. This was an intensely emotional read just like all of Jennifer's other novels. I enjoyed it though and learned a lot about tornadoes from it. I would definitely recommend this if you like heart-wrenching reads. Hall Memorial Library - Brittany Reading this book came at a hard time for me. I had just lost someone that I was fairly close to and so this book made me quite emotionally distraught. I think I still would have been distraught regardless of that.

This was such a raw and honest novel. Jersey was all over the place emotionally and it was totally realistic. Her situation just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Since this book takes place over only a short time, there is no real happy ending. Things start to look up though, so that's a nice thing.

I didn't really care much for most of the secondary characters, they all fell a bit flat. I did like Kolby and wished he played a bigger part in this novel. I feel like this novel took place in the moment. There was no past and there was no future, we were thrust right into the moment with Jersey. I think this is why some of the story and characters were underdeveloped.

This was an intensely emotional read just like all of Jennifer's other novels. I enjoyed it though and learned a lot about tornadoes from it. I would definitely recommend this if you like heart-wrenching reads.