Review: A Map of the Known World

A Map of the Known World
Lisa Ann Sandell

Official Summary:
Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

What the Pros Say:
Kirkus: The attractive cover will draw romance readers, who are in for a satisfying read if they can get past the first 50 pages.

What I Say:

I haven't read either of Lisa Ann Sandell's previous books, but from poking around on the internet I found out that they were written in verse, which makes complete sense after reading A Map of the Known World. The official summary describes Sandell's prose as "lyrical," and that's an apt evaluation. Some of Sandell's descriptions were simply breathtaking, and that was definitely one of the strongest points of the book.

At the same time, the plot and characters were thoroughly enjoyable. Cora's evolution over the course of her freshman year of high school is painful to witness but realistic, and her attempts to reconcile her memories of the happy boy her brother was in childhood with the angry, brooding young man he became in the years before his death are accurate in their frustration and grief.

Even as she deals with the loss of her brother, Cora is forced to deal with the withdrawal of her father and her mother's overbearing protectiveness--her parents are caught in their own webs of grief, unable to help their daughter cope with her mourning of her brother. Life at school is no better, and as Cora feels her familiar friends falling away from her she's forced to turn to new friends and herself in order to pull herself through her first year in high school, her first Nateless year.

Overall, I enjoyed the book enough to keep me up late finishing it, but I wouldn't say it lives up to some of the other (admittedly amazing, so perhaps I'm drawing the line too high) books I've read recently. I don't have any specific complaints though, and would definitely read it again, so I'll go ahead and say that unless you're anti books about sad things, go ahead and pick this one up.