A review by chanman
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
3.0
When a book has the job of showing the social norms of a society and the struggles of one character that goes against those norms, the book must be able to provide a captivating and engaging struggle for the reader. Does "Ask the Passengers" live up to these expectations? Read on to find out.
The main protagonist is Astrid, a girl who is trying to find her sexuality in the midst of small town bigotry, and who has to come to grips with the repercussions of her ultimate choice and deal with the consequences of her actions. Astrid is a character who is immediately sympathetic, and is the eyes through which the reader sees those people who perhaps are struggling to find and understand their own sexuality. She is a proactive character, with her exploration of who she is, despite the fear of what everyone in her small town is saying. Yet, she still has things to learn. She has to learn about how her actions can affect other people, weather she thinks they should or not. Where as most rebellious teenagers with a rebellious streak do damage to themselves and others without thinking about the consequences, Astrid is different. She understands the consequences, but she fails to understand how her family will feel about them. This is particularly true with regards to her sister.
Her family and the town represents the external conflict in this story. After Astrid makes her decision about her sexuality, she has to come to terms with her broken family, and realize that these people care for her, or at least do not want to see her do something she will regret. During the first act of the novel, we see that Astrid does not like her mother. Astrid's mom, Clare, lives in a world that she has to control. As a real-estate developer, Clare lives to sell the perfect dream home to her clients,and this dream extends to Clare's family as well. Her husband is a man who never completed college and gets stoned constantly, and her two daughters are trying to impress her, but Clare is to concerned about the outside appearance of have a dream life to notice. Astrid's father is a college drop-out and works at a job he does not get any respect in (as evidenced by the fact that his office supplies get repeatedly stolen), and feels little control at home. To escape this, he repeatedly gets high on pot in order to escape this reality. He is forced to learn that he cannot escape his current situation, he can work to change it and make it better. Astrid's sister, Ellis, is a character that has to be able to accept change, even when it does not suit her world of perfection. Each of these characters has something to learn and it is very interesting to see this play out in the story.
So, why did i give this three out of five stars? Well, one issue is rather minor, and the other is somewhat major. The minor issue is that Astrid can at times be an unsympathetic character. During the course of the novel, she pretends to go out with a guy so that he will cover for her when Astrid secretly goes out with her friends. The thing is, the guy legitimately believes that Astrid likes him. Astrid repeatedly states that this is wrong, but does nothing to solve the problem, util it is to late and the guy finds that there whole relationship has been a sham. Worse yet, when the guy talks to Astrid, he acts as though nothing is wrong, and their still good friends. I think that this is unbelievable, and I cannot see him being okay with what Astrid did.
The other problem with this book is it's main selling point: the talking to planes. One of the major selling points of the novel is that Astrid gives her love to planes that she sees flying over her head as she watches the sky. In the book, when she does this, the story momentarily switches perspective and looks into the life of the person Astrid is giving her love to. One would think that this would have some symbol on the main story right? Well, if there was, I couldn't find it in a casual reading of the book. Overall, it seems to be a wasted opportunity.
In the end, "Ask the Passengers" is a book that shows a strong internal struggle, and how that struggle can effect the lives of others, ether intended or not. But a drawn out ending and premise that is not delivered makes this story a 3 out of five for me. You might enjoy it, but i did not.
The main protagonist is Astrid, a girl who is trying to find her sexuality in the midst of small town bigotry, and who has to come to grips with the repercussions of her ultimate choice and deal with the consequences of her actions. Astrid is a character who is immediately sympathetic, and is the eyes through which the reader sees those people who perhaps are struggling to find and understand their own sexuality. She is a proactive character, with her exploration of who she is, despite the fear of what everyone in her small town is saying. Yet, she still has things to learn. She has to learn about how her actions can affect other people, weather she thinks they should or not. Where as most rebellious teenagers with a rebellious streak do damage to themselves and others without thinking about the consequences, Astrid is different. She understands the consequences, but she fails to understand how her family will feel about them. This is particularly true with regards to her sister.
Her family and the town represents the external conflict in this story. After Astrid makes her decision about her sexuality, she has to come to terms with her broken family, and realize that these people care for her, or at least do not want to see her do something she will regret. During the first act of the novel, we see that Astrid does not like her mother. Astrid's mom, Clare, lives in a world that she has to control. As a real-estate developer, Clare lives to sell the perfect dream home to her clients,and this dream extends to Clare's family as well. Her husband is a man who never completed college and gets stoned constantly, and her two daughters are trying to impress her, but Clare is to concerned about the outside appearance of have a dream life to notice. Astrid's father is a college drop-out and works at a job he does not get any respect in (as evidenced by the fact that his office supplies get repeatedly stolen), and feels little control at home. To escape this, he repeatedly gets high on pot in order to escape this reality. He is forced to learn that he cannot escape his current situation, he can work to change it and make it better. Astrid's sister, Ellis, is a character that has to be able to accept change, even when it does not suit her world of perfection. Each of these characters has something to learn and it is very interesting to see this play out in the story.
So, why did i give this three out of five stars? Well, one issue is rather minor, and the other is somewhat major. The minor issue is that Astrid can at times be an unsympathetic character. During the course of the novel, she pretends to go out with a guy so that he will cover for her when Astrid secretly goes out with her friends. The thing is, the guy legitimately believes that Astrid likes him. Astrid repeatedly states that this is wrong, but does nothing to solve the problem, util it is to late and the guy finds that there whole relationship has been a sham. Worse yet, when the guy talks to Astrid, he acts as though nothing is wrong, and their still good friends. I think that this is unbelievable, and I cannot see him being okay with what Astrid did.
The other problem with this book is it's main selling point: the talking to planes. One of the major selling points of the novel is that Astrid gives her love to planes that she sees flying over her head as she watches the sky. In the book, when she does this, the story momentarily switches perspective and looks into the life of the person Astrid is giving her love to. One would think that this would have some symbol on the main story right? Well, if there was, I couldn't find it in a casual reading of the book. Overall, it seems to be a wasted opportunity.
In the end, "Ask the Passengers" is a book that shows a strong internal struggle, and how that struggle can effect the lives of others, ether intended or not. But a drawn out ending and premise that is not delivered makes this story a 3 out of five for me. You might enjoy it, but i did not.