Sadie vs Otherwood

Both novels speak to a hidden darkness, secrets that lie restless underneath the dust of silence. Even though it may seem that Sadie would eat Stuey and Elly Rose alive, the power of secrecy and the desire to unleash them, binds them together.

Otherwood started off much like how I start off in the morning. Stiff, creaky, blurry and so damn slow. I even debated just skimming the book because I just wasn’t interested. I remember rolling my eyes at some parts of Otherwood just hoping that SOMETHING would happen so I could get on with it and finish it. It wasn’t until “the incident” that my interest was somewhat piqued. I simply found the writing hard to connect to. It was dry, emotionless, and at times forced. Cliches ended up making it’s presence known a few times. I wasn’t very impressed with the stereotypical wide-mouthed, gap-toothed, heavy set image of a black woman that the author created. I just wasn't impressed. You know how you can tell that the author had a startling image in their head and the whole purpose of the first 50 pages is just to get to it… that’s what this felt like. I wanted the beginning of the book to be more meaningful. The middle was muddy but started to get more intriguing.  The ending was good, however, I just wanted more. Once I reached part 4 and 5 I was much more invested and actually started to enjoy it. It’s very confusing at first but after a while, it starts coming out of the mist.

Oh, Sadie. Well, I can say it did live up to my expectations. I saw this book on a few lists and haphazardly read the summary. I was curious, and thought I can finally read a YA mystery book. This book had me engaged from the first page. It reminded me a little of Veronica Mars meets Criminal Minds meets Betty from Riverdale. It's raw, emotional, and speaks to a truth we all need to learn. As I was reading this book, I felt that the author was an architect. Courtney Summers built this mesmerizing world, crafted a strong ending, and made you want to look in the nooks and crannies of her narrative. Summers carefully added in different layers of knowing, little hints here and there, which left me constantly wanting to know more. I haven’t read a lot of books that use a podcast format so to see it done was fresh (to me). As a student reader, I can see how these would be a nice break between the Sadie chapters. The alternating chapters and perspective played well off of each other and really built the tension. I can say she successfully had me hooked until the end. I just wanted to get to the end and see what happened. Phew, what an ending. Some will love it, some will absolutely hate it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Me? After I took a day to digest I realized it was a perfect ending.

I only have to say that I feel bad that I read Otherwood after Sadie. Otherwood never had a fighting chance going after a powerhouse book like Sadie. Otherwood did take me to another world but I was always one foot in, one foot out. Sadie clawed her way into the pit of my stomach and made a home there. Either way, I would definitely recommend both books to my students.