Melt
This book rattled me, it shook something inside me and reflecting back, it was the whole book that moved me. It started off with the way the text was written with the alternating chapters. Joey’s version was written in a poetic style, his dark version of life spread across the pages in a dramatic tone, casting a more emotional, serious feeling while Dorothy’s narrative account conveyed a stressfree, simpler life. Joey’s home life is hidden from the outside world, for people only know the calm side of his family, if individuals knew what really goes on when the doors are shut, his families secrets would be out. Joey feels broken and with a father who uses force, Joey is following in his father’s footsteps. Already incarcerated by the age of sixteen and with hands calloused and harden by years of fighting, Joey doesn’t back down in the outside world. Witnessing his mother, shadowed and weakened by her own husband, Joey fears his father yet is sickened by his use of force. The use of poetry in the text is powerful as some of the words are repeated and the sentence structure is short and robust, belting out an image of who Joey is and where he wants to be, if only he could stand up. When he meets up with Dorothy, he sees something in her, he’s drawn to her but he knows he is not cut out for her. It’s these feelings that he has to contend with. Dorothy is new in town and doesn’t know Joey’s past yet when she’s warned, she acts on her own as she thinks he’s hot. They come from two different lifestyles and they both will need to make some adjustments to make this work. The expectations, their hopes and their previous lives get into their way as they tried to adjust to each other. Lots of emotions and temperaments flew, creating a book that I couldn’t put down. I loved the tension in the air and I could feel the energy surging throughout sections of this book as the drama played out. I am glad that I picked this book up.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Last Syllable Books for providing me this copy.
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