Run, Hide, Fight Back - Emily
Trigger warning: Mentions of death, kidnapping, shooting, general violence
What’s this? A simple book recommendation? Not an over-the-top analysis of one aspect of a book or a dictionary of fandom terms? From Emily?
No, of course not.
Run, Hide, Fight Back is one of April Henry’s most recent books, published in 2019. I’ve been reading Henry’s books since I was in sixth grade, but haven’t read one in about a year, so to read this was like being transported to my middle school self. It follows a similar narrative to all of Henry’s books, with teenagers trapped in terrifying situations that most of us have only entertained, such as being kidnapped, finding your best friend dead, or in this case, being trapped in a mall during a shooting.
This book is a simple one--fast-paced, teen heroes, more of a turn-off-your-brain and get invested, one sitting read if anything. However, one thing stands out about this book, and that is its remarkable ability to perspective-switch without breaking flow. “Chapters” range from 1 to 8 pages, with police call transcripts and social media posts scattered in between, switching perspectives between the six protagonists each time. And yet, the story remains coherent, the reader isn’t lost.
Henry does this through cross-referencing. The characters think about each other, nudging the reader in the right direction so they come to the correct conclusions. They look at each other, formulating thoughts and opinions. This way, the reader relates the current perspective to the one they just read, and the reader’s mind is not lost, as it is tethered in the previous page and led along a straightforward part to the next one.
Nice post! I often read books with multiple perspectives, and I can see that sometimes the flow breaks and it can be confusing when the characters constantly switch. I liked how you went into detail about how the author was able to make the switches in perspective flawless and coherent. I definitely want to check this book out, because some of the books that I've read with multiple perspectives have left me pretty confused.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really interesting book. I've always liked books, especially murder mysteries, that include call transcripts, files, and media posts. I think it makes the story a lot more interesting. Although, I'm usually pretty wary around lots of perspective changes, most of the time it gets messy and draggy. It sounds like that won't be a problem in this book and I think I'll definetely check it out soon. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteSix characters sounds like quite a lot of narrators (possibly?) to keep straight. Of course there's the third-person narration style where the narrator switches between people to show what they are doing, but changing the perspectives every chapter is not the same. It is an interesting and clever tactic to show character's thoughts to indicate where they are in the story.
ReplyDeleteI love books that use the style of normal text interspersed with some other form of information, like screenshots, transcripts of videos, or letters. From your description, this author sounds really talented! I will have to find this book somewhere. Also, great job on the introduction to the post, I found it very funny. :)
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds really interesting! For one thing, I have always found series with multiple narrators interesting, because it shows you the story from different points of view, and the different thoughts and personalities of each character more intimately. It sounds like this book has done it very well, which is a very hard thing to do. I also find it interesting how it talks about those scenarios that most of us have imagined, but not actually experienced. Great job Emily!
ReplyDeleteI think that thrillers are a really underappreciated genre in book form, which was why I was excited to see an article about a thriller aimed at teens, which is even rarer. The perspective-switching aspect of the book you discussed is also interesting. It seems like it can replicate the quick scene changes you see with thrillers on TV, which are much more difficult on a page. The use of "found" sources in a fast-paced novel is also unique. Most of the novels in this format take a long time to read and understand.
ReplyDeleteThis book seems really interesting, as I've never seen a multiple-perspective book include outside elements like police calls and social media. It honestly kind of seems like a movie plot. I wish you summarized the beginning of the story or described the characters, because I don't really know what kind of book this is since I don't know what kind of author April Henry is. It also seems strange to me that an author would write a book about a teen in a mall shooting. You mention teen-hero, so is this a young adult book? In that case, why would somebody write a young-adult book about a shooting?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a very fun book! I always find myself thinking about these situations and what I would do. I really like how the book includes multiple perspectives and also has police transcripts and social media posts it sounds like it would make the story a lot more interesting. I definitely will have to check this out!
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