
It is extremely rare of me to enjoy a book so much that I feel the need to share it with the world in the form of a review. [Click picture for larger view]
Title:
MadappleAuthor: Christina Meldrum
My rating: 5 stars
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"-Please state your name for the record.
-Aslaug. [eye-lah]
-And your last name?
-I don't know.
-You don't know your last name?
-Mother called me Aslaug Datter.
-So your last name is Datter?
-No. I mean, I don't know.
Datter means "daughter" in Danish. I'm not sure it's my name."
Aslaug is on trial for murder. She was raised in powerful isolation by her mother until the age of 15, when certain circumstances cast a bad light on her and thrust her from her fenced-off world into ours. Does she control her own fate, or do other people? Or does some divine being guide her without her knowing?
So we follow Aslaug's journey from
Datter to Aslaug to suspected murderer. The story is dynamic, and flows from generation to the next. The plot-line is not linear for the first half of the book or so, and it may seem annoying at first but later it is recognized as needed. The metaphors are rich and deep, the plot unwinds as it should, but not without it's surprises. There are some things unanswered, but better left so.
Madapple is slippery, slick, dynamic. It takes the reader into Aslaug's world as she questions relationships, human beings, miracles and divine intervention. Also, as she unravels her world in first person, the book switches between each chapter to third person covering Aslaug's trial. The book wrenches emotion from you, whether you are willing to give it up or not.
What are we as human beings? What defines us? Our physical being or our minds, imaginations? Is there an answer to this? Does every question have an answer, even if we don't know it? Nothing is as it seems on the outside, what is perceived is only a fraction of the truth. Do we see what is the truth, or what we want to see?
Aslaug is not your average girl, but again, what defines average? Find out the answers by reading
Madapple!
"Some things stay together because they fit, Aslaug Datter. Not because they're forced."----------------
Hm... I think this was by far my favorite read of the summer so far. :) I must re-read this soon! :D Plus, the author got her bachelors degree at the college I plan on attending next fall! How much cooler can a book get? XD