Sutton: Website • TwitterFormat: Paperback, 350 pages
Source: Local Library
Release Date: July 8, 2013
Publisher: Flux
Genre: Paranormal
Age Group: Young Adult
Get It: Amazon • Barnes & Noble
I can’t weep. I can’t fear. I’ve grown talented at pretending.~synopsis provided by Goodreads
Elizabeth Caldwell doesn’t feel emotions . . . she sees them. Longing, Shame, and Courage materialize around her classmates. Fury and Resentment appear in her dysfunctional home. They’ve all given up on Elizabeth because she doesn’t succumb to their touch. All, that is, save one—Fear. He’s intrigued by her, as desperate to understand the accident that changed Elizabeth’s life as she is herself.
Elizabeth and Fear both sense that the key to her past is hidden in the dream paintings she hides in the family barn. But a shadowy menace has begun to stalk her, and try as she might, Elizabeth can barely avoid the brutality of her life long enough to uncover the truth about herself. When it matters most, will she be able to rely on Fear to save her?
Sutton has done quite the job when it comes to an emotionless character. It's kind of creepy, really. Elizabeth has felt no emotion since she was about four. Nothing. Nada. Zip. She just... exists. I'm really impressed that Sutton was able to write the character of Elizabeth so well. I don't mean that as a slight to Sutton, but to write a character that doesn't feel, doesn't really react, and actually takes calculations as to the best response cannot be an easy task.
While there were instances where the plot lagged, I don't think we really got into anything until the last third of the novel, the story kept me entertained and interested. The dreams Elizabeth kept having were the key to keeping the plot going, otherwise it would have been an emotionless teenage girl, who can literally see the Emotions and Elements, living her day-to-day life. Thrilling.
The Emotion we see the most is Fear, who has this obsession with Elizabeth and is determined to find out why she doesn't feel any emotion. It's kind of cute, in a way, as you try to figure out if he cares about Elizabeth or if it's curiosity that keeps him hanging around.
I thought the mean girl angle with Sophia wasn't really necessary. Her actions/attitude were cliche and a little on the lame side. Notes likeYou’re not normal. They should lock you up and thrown away the key (115) and similar comments just didn't really add anything to the story. If Sutton had toned it down I could get on board, but it was too much. Also, I hate the way Elizabeth responded towards Sophia's childish antics. She just accepts it. Not in the "Whatever, I don't care" way, but in the "I'm going to act meek and helpless and pretend your comments hurt me because that's what you want." Disgusting.
There was one scene in particular where this really bothered me. Elizabeth fights back against her physically abusive father, but stands there and takes it when Sophia and her friends degrade her and pull some bullshit nonsense that could, at the very least, have some pretty serious consequences, i.e. jail. I don't want to think about it anymore as it infuriates me.
On the flip side, I love Maggie. Maggie is an awesome friend to Elizabeth and Elizabeth tries so hard to be the same. It's a little heartbreaking that Elizabeth can't feel for her friend. At one point she even gets angry(?)/annoyed(?) that she can't: “Even now, I feel nothing. It shouldn’t be unexpected, but still it seems... wrong. I should be able to mourn my only friend” (154). Maggie even tells Elizabeth that despite the fact she didn’t always show it, she knew Elizabeth cared and it’s what kept her (Maggie) going. Fear even states the following: “Even though you never gave her anything back, she stayed. Even when all the other kids shied away and hated you, Maggie - a simple human child - loved you. And no matter what you say, I know you loved her back. I saw the way you looked at her” (161).
I've seen reviews that mention a love triangle between Elizabeth, Joshua, and Fear but I don't really see it. Of course, it's quite hard to envision such a thing when one of the people involved doesn't have any emotions, but whatever. If anything, Joshua seems more like a friend to Elizabeth than anything else. The real relationship in the story is the mini-one between Elizabeth and Fear. I can see where something between them could happen in the following novels.
Overall, I would say Some Quiet Place is definitely worth the read. While it does lag in parts, it held my attention. I did not see the twist coming, which is nothing I can complain about. I thought the ending itself was a nice wrap up to the events of the novel, with a well written open ending (not a cliffhanger).
