BOOK REVIEW: DREAMING OF ANTIGONE BY ROBIN BRIDGES

Dreaming of Antigone

by Robin Bridges

304 pages

Expected Publication March 29th 2016

MY GOODREADS RATING 5/5 STARS

(Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley, I received an ebook copy of this book for free to review.)

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

Andria’s twin sister, Iris, had adoring friends, a cool boyfriend, a wicked car, and a shelf full of soccer trophies. She had everything, in fact—including a drug problem. Six months after Iris’s death, Andria is trying to keep her grades, her friends, and her family from falling apart. But stargazing and books aren’t enough to ward off her guilt that she—the freak with the scary illness and all-black wardrobe—is still here when Iris isn’t. And then there’s Alex Hammond. The boy Andria blames for Iris’s death. The boy she’s unwittingly started swapping lines of poetry and secrets with, even as she tries to keep hating him.

Heartwrenching, smart, and bold, Dreaming of Antigone is a story about the jagged pieces that lie beneath the surface of the most seemingly perfect life…and how they can fit together to make something wholly unexpected.

MY THOUGHTS:

I need to start by saying the writing style of this book is truly stunning. The way the words flowed had me begging for more. It has been a while since I was absolutely in love with an author’s writing style, but now I found one.

This book deals with a lot of tough subjects, addiction, epilepsy, sexual abuse, death, grief, suicide and many more. Looking at all these topics written out makes me personally think the story should just not work, there is too much going on. Boy was I wrong, the author touched on each of the subjects with the knowledge and respect they deserve. You could tell either a lot of research was done or it was from personal experience. I commend the author for being brave enough to just go for it.

As for characters, I think they were all well detailed.  Andria was portrayed in a way that I felt like she was one of my good friends, I was completely sucked into her life and I loved that. She was a pessimist for sure, but not to the point where I was getting annoyed with her. She lost her sister and was dealing with so many issues I feel the author could have easily over done it, but she didn’t. I think she did an amazing job with Andria as a whole.

Overall this book was just amazing. It’s a contemporary with less focus on the love more on tough subjects. I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it with no doubts.