A review by impybelle
Passing Strange by Daniel Waters
4.0
If the one thing that kept you from truly loving the Generation Dead novels was a little too much Phoebe and a little less Karen, this is the GD book for you. Most of the book is told from Karen's point of view (with occasional blip from Pete, whom you might recall was Adam's murderer but since Adam turned zombie, Pete didn't really get charged properly.) and a lot of questions you might have had about her are answered.
For instance, Karen is a firm believer in "fake it 'til you make it." She comes across as calm, cool, and definitely collected in the other books, but once you see things from her side, you realize she's just as messed up as everyone else. It's just that she's learned to hide it better. Karen, you see, is a master at passing. She passes for alive, in many senses of the word. Without Tommy around, Karen has to find her own role to play in things.
So she gets a job at Wild Thingz! and somehow ends up dating Pete. She's spying on him, he's losing what's left of his mind, and things don't unravel quite as quickly as you'd imagine, given that he's not shy about sharing his hatred of the differently biotic and his plan to off Phoebe and lay the blame at Adam's feet.
Which was probably the worst thing to say to Karen since she's a little in love with Phoebe herself.
Karen's parts of the books are told as if she's sharing her story with the one who got away. Only they didn't get away so much as Karen pushed them away, afraid of things changing (which they already had) and how the rest of the world would see them. Karen's quick to point out that she didn't die of a broken heart, she died because she fell into a fit of blue-tinged depression she couldn't find her way out of, but the broken heart might be what brought her back.
That's the other fun thing. Karen isn't just good at passing, she can actually heal wounds. When she's shot at the start of the book, she's more than a little worried about her little sister's reaction to her new face, but after a nap (which is unusual enough) she wakes up and has begun to heal. Later, Karen will use this to her advantage, but it does begin to make her wonder what makes her so special and why?
Despite knowing that Karen's and Pete's plans are going to blow up in their faces, it's still incredibly interesting to watch exactly how that plays out. You're given enough insight into Pete's mind to decide if you feel a bit sorry for him, but not so much that you're sure whether he's changed enough to have actually earned that sympathy or not.
But my favorite bit is the end, when Karen goes 'home' to the one she's been dedicating her story to, and her best friend/could have been girlfriend, reacts the way most people who would kill to have one more day with someone they've lost would: she hugs her tightly and there are tears.
For instance, Karen is a firm believer in "fake it 'til you make it." She comes across as calm, cool, and definitely collected in the other books, but once you see things from her side, you realize she's just as messed up as everyone else. It's just that she's learned to hide it better. Karen, you see, is a master at passing. She passes for alive, in many senses of the word. Without Tommy around, Karen has to find her own role to play in things.
So she gets a job at Wild Thingz! and somehow ends up dating Pete. She's spying on him, he's losing what's left of his mind, and things don't unravel quite as quickly as you'd imagine, given that he's not shy about sharing his hatred of the differently biotic and his plan to off Phoebe and lay the blame at Adam's feet.
Which was probably the worst thing to say to Karen since she's a little in love with Phoebe herself.
Karen's parts of the books are told as if she's sharing her story with the one who got away. Only they didn't get away so much as Karen pushed them away, afraid of things changing (which they already had) and how the rest of the world would see them. Karen's quick to point out that she didn't die of a broken heart, she died because she fell into a fit of blue-tinged depression she couldn't find her way out of, but the broken heart might be what brought her back.
That's the other fun thing. Karen isn't just good at passing, she can actually heal wounds. When she's shot at the start of the book, she's more than a little worried about her little sister's reaction to her new face, but after a nap (which is unusual enough) she wakes up and has begun to heal. Later, Karen will use this to her advantage, but it does begin to make her wonder what makes her so special and why?
Despite knowing that Karen's and Pete's plans are going to blow up in their faces, it's still incredibly interesting to watch exactly how that plays out. You're given enough insight into Pete's mind to decide if you feel a bit sorry for him, but not so much that you're sure whether he's changed enough to have actually earned that sympathy or not.
But my favorite bit is the end, when Karen goes 'home' to the one she's been dedicating her story to, and her best friend/could have been girlfriend, reacts the way most people who would kill to have one more day with someone they've lost would: she hugs her tightly and there are tears.