In a modern-day utopian community where mirrors, photos, and even words like beautiful and ugly are forbidden, a girl who has never seen her own face harbors a guilty curiosity about the outside world. A thoughtful exploration of self-image in a world familiar to readers of The Giver and The List.
Zailey has never seen her own face. She's never seen her reflection, or a photo of herself, or even a drawing. In the special community of Gladder Hill, cameras and mirrors are forbidden: it's why everyone's happier here. Nobody talks about anyone else's appearance. You're not supposed to even think about what other people look like, or what you look like.
But Zailey does.
She knows her superficial thoughts are wrong, and her sketchbook, filled with secret portraits of her classmates and neighbors, could get her in trouble. Yet she can't help but think those thoughts, and be curious about the outside world where she once lived, years ago. Most of all, she wonders what it's like to see herself―her own face.
When Zailey suddenly finds herself beyond the gates of her town, she has a chance to see if what she's been taught about the outside world is true and search for the mother she barely remembers. Only then will she find out the real story about Gladder Hill. But is she prepared for the truth?
I've mentioned in other reviews that I love a cult narrative. Cult novels come in two flavours; there's "I was raised here and it all seemed perfectly normal but now I have doubts" and there's "I fought my way out but they're trying to take me back." Although Gladder Hill isn't, strictly speaking, a cult, this is very much the former kind, albeit softened and smoothed out a bit for children.
It's always fascinating to see what differences arise from the way people are raised; a scene that really caught me here was Zailey and a friend of hers musing on how many people might be in the world, and settling on 'thousands'. After all, their town has 102 people, and if there are as many as ten other towns like theirs...There's also a great scene where Zailey feels a 'small bump' on her chin and has no idea what's going on, while of course all the readers understand!
I can understand the thought processes behind the founding of the town, and it's actually a really interesting thought experiment. It would be fascinating to see it tried in real life! This would be a great class novel as there are plenty of things to consider and talk about ... I thought the list of banned words was a great touch!
I really enjoyed this and I think it'll do well.
The Town with no Mirrors publishes on the 16th February, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment