Author: Allie Burke
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Dark Literary Fiction
Publisher: Booktrope
Release Date: Sept 9 2014
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
From the author of the bestselling genre-defining Enchanters series, comes a
new literary tour de force about Emily, a young woman balancing two worlds
between her fingertips: the one that is real to her and the one that is real to
everyone else…
The question is: which one will she choose?
Never romanticizing what it means to be a twenty-something
schizophrenic in a world broken by normalcy and half-baked fairytales, Allie
Burke’s latest novel unites Emily and her world at large spanning from the
streets of Russia, to the sheets of her bed, to the idiosyncratic comfort she
gets from worlds that don’t exist at all.
Woven with angst and darkness, bursting with heartache,
Paper Souls tells of the irreparably damaged and broken, and how they survive.
Book Links
Barnes
and Noble (B&N)
Books
A Million (BAM)
About the Author:
An American novelist, book critic, and magazine
editor from Burbank, California, Allie Burke writes books she can’t find in the
bookstore. Having been recognized as writing a“kickass book that defies the
genre it’s in," Allie writes with a prose that has been labeled poetic and ethereal.
Her life is a beautiful disaster, flowered with the
harrowing existence of inherited eccentricity, a murderous family history, a
faithful literature addiction, and the intricate darkness of true love. These
are the enchanting experiences that inspire Allie’s fairytales.
Author Link:
YouTube
Review: 4.5 Stars
Paper Souls by Allie Burke is reads like a modern version of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. What does it feel like to have schizophrenia? How do you manage voices that want to be heard? How do you differential reality from fiction? Burke’s skillful writing draws the reader into the narrative and makes the reader feel upset, disrupted, confused, and unsure. Her writing is powerful enough that it evokes the sublime in the reader. As a Professor of Literature who also worked in the mental health field for many years, I appreciate the way the author depicted mental illness and used literary device to evoke the same discomfort in the reader.
Review: 4.5 Stars
Paper Souls by Allie Burke is reads like a modern version of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. What does it feel like to have schizophrenia? How do you manage voices that want to be heard? How do you differential reality from fiction? Burke’s skillful writing draws the reader into the narrative and makes the reader feel upset, disrupted, confused, and unsure. Her writing is powerful enough that it evokes the sublime in the reader. As a Professor of Literature who also worked in the mental health field for many years, I appreciate the way the author depicted mental illness and used literary device to evoke the same discomfort in the reader.
Paper Souls is a richly woven tale that follows
Emily, a beautiful but painfully confused young woman, through one of many dark
periods in her life. Emily is a bookworm, a part-time drug addict, beautiful,
and painfully confused about love, men, and friendship. She breaks up with her
boyfriend, Seth, at the beginning of the story then begins a confusing rollercoaster
ride of a relationship with Brendan. Brendan and Emily have an amazing sexual
bond, but his narcissism and womanizing make you wonder why Emily even likes
him--aside from the fact that she is mentally unstable and somewhat self-loathing.
All the characters in the story are brilliantly
described, making them seem real. But just when you think you know and
understand Emily and the rest of the characters in the book, the author springs
a trap on you. Just like Emily, the reader struggles to determine what in Emily’s
life is real: are her lovers real? Are her friends real? Are her adventures to
Moscow real? Written in a literary form, Burke’s work provides clues as to what
we should and should not believe . . . such as the use or lack thereof of “dialogue
tags” . . . but in the end, what you assumed wasn’t real may be real and you,
the reader, feel as unsure. Burke is quite genius at making the reader feel
like they are part of the story. We are just as baffled as the characters
around Emily . . . and Emily herself.
While very engaging, Burke’s literary style won’t
be for everyone. Nothing is spoon-fed to the reader. Her choice to tell rather
than show certain sections of the book might not sit well with some readers,
but it is clear this form is intentional. As well, the pace of the story is a
bit slow at first. It picks up midway when the plot really begins to reveal itself.
An impatient reader might now be able to wait for the plot to unfold. The
myriad of characters, the whirlwind of events, the jarring use of dialogue, the
steamy and somewhat violent sex scenes, and the darkness in the novel leave the
reader unsettled. This is intentional. This novel is beautifully disturbing. If
you like a book with brains, this is a story for you!
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