Book Review - Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Talented musician Andi has not recovered from her younger brother Truman's death. More than a year later, she's still reeling, dependent on pills to get through every day. Her only solace is music, in all its varieties, from classical to the Decemberists to Radiohead to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  When her father comes to Brooklyn and sees the situation Andi and her mother (who relentlessly paints portraits of Truman) are in, he takes Andi with him to Paris and sends her mother away for intensive treatment. But a change of scenery doesn't take away Andi's pain, and all she wants to do is return to Brooklyn and rescue her mother.

At her father's friends' place in Paris, she comes upon the diary of Alex, a teenage girl living during the French Revolution. It's the one thing that offers her some kind of escape, someone else in the throes of unbelievable suffering and horror, whose relationship with a ten year old future king Louis-Charles very much mirror's Andi's relationship to her brother. The more Andi finds out about Alex, the more she is intrigued. And she's not sure if it's the pills she pops or something else, but there are these moments when she feels like Alex is calling out to her, begging for her story to be told, to be resolved, for the mystery of Louis-Charles to be solved.


Jennifer Donnelly's latest book is absolutely brilliant.  Clocking in at just under 500 pages, this story absolutely warrants the length of the book.  There's so much that happens as Andi and Alex's story become intertwined, never mind the economy of language. Donnelly has clearly done her research to make Andi's musical interests complex, compelling, and so real. The characters, from Andi and Alex, to Andi's parents, to Andi's friend Vijay, are well-developed and all interesting in their own right. This book will definitely be getting some worthy Printz consideration and I feel so lucky to have been able to read an advanced copy.

Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. Also, the first time I ever read a book at a baseball game. (I intended only to read in between innings but towards the end I was incapable of putting it down!)