Review Detail

Now that I've read this book the cover makes so much more sense! Wow. I'm pretty sure that about sums up how I feel about Awaken, unless you'll permit me to say FREAKIN' WOW! Yup. That's more accurate.

I think what most drew me in about the world that Katie Kacvinsky builds is how close to home it hits. In Maddie's world, everyone is trapped behind computer screens. Constantly plugged in, because that is the best way to stay "safe". For a long time Maddie has seen this as the norm, and a happy existence. Then Justin enters her life and everything is thrown upside down. Don't think that the irony is lost on me that I'm sitting at a computer screen typing this review. Watching Maddie's life change, and her story unfold hit really close to home. It made me think about how much time I spend behind these devices. If she wasn't living, am I? Thank you Katie Kacvinsky for making me think about that.

Maddie is a character I fell into step with instantly. Her questioning attitude, her need to please her parents despite how she feels, her inability to voice her own opinion, it's all woven into a girl who has been trapped for too long. I felt for her. Then sweet, reserved, and life changing Justin comes onto the scene. The Maddie that exists after this happens is entirely different, and yet the same person at the same time. It's a metamorphosis of the best kind. I promise that if you fall in love with her in the beginning, you'll love her even more as you watch her be born all over again.

It also needs to be said that this is one of the sweetest and most frustrating romances I've read. Justin keeps to himself because that's how he has always been. Maddie used to, but Justin breaks her out of that and now the one person she wants she can't seem to have. Frustrating right? However lest you think that this is another book with a girl pining hopelessly after a boy, Maddie is different. It made my heart soar when one of the characters in the book explained to her that pining never did anyone an ounce of good (not her exact words but I'm paraphrasing here). She tells Maddie that we must learn to love ourselves and feel whole alone, before we can truly be invested in someone else. Are you floored? I was! Thank you to an author for finally saying that! Thank you for showing us a girl who knows she needs to learn to be alone! I'll end my slightly feminist rant here, but that made me fall in love with Awaken even more than I already had.

Point being, if you couldn't tell from my incoherent thoughts above, I completely adored this book. The message is clear, and I fully agree. Maddie and Justin teach us how important it is to get out there and really live, and to do it for yourself and no one else. Awaken crawled into my mind and made me think, and if a book can do that then I'm sold. Pure and honest love is all I have for this book.