Author: Heather Demetrios
Publication Date: 7 April 2020
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Page Count: 480
Reading Method: Digital ARC
Synopsis:
One wave: that’s all it takes for the rest of Mae and Hannah Winters’ lives to change.
When a tsunami strikes the island where their parents are vacationing, it soon becomes clear that their mom and dad are never coming home. Forced to move to Boston from sunny California for the rest of their senior year, each girl struggles with secrets their parents’ death has brought to light, and with their uncertainty about the future. Instead of bringing them closer, it feels like the wave has torn the sisters apart.
Hannah is a secret poet who wants to be seen, but only knows how to hide. The pain pills she stole from her dead father hurl her onto the shores of an addiction she can’t shake and a dealer who turns her heart upside down. When it’s clear Hannah’s drowning, Mae, a budding astronaut suddenly launched into an existential crisis―and unexpected love―must choose between herself and the only family she has left.
Review:
This book is a lot to unpack. We follow the lives of Hannah and Mae as they deal with the aftermath of the tsunami that killed their parents. Hannah is a struggling addict in recovery and Mae has her sights set on becoming an astronaut. I remember reading the author’s note and it said something about this book being a lifetime in the making, and I thought that was kind of beautiful because it really feels like this book spans a lifetime (though in reality it’s only about a year?).
This book comes with an abundance of content warnings and I would recommend looking them up before grabbing this story. It deals with some very heavy topics, which are only worsened after the wave.
I just really loved how this story showed the bond between sisters, how they dealt individually with the trauma, and how they came together to grow. There is so much that happens in this book – relationships, boys, moving to across the country, discovering secrets…the list goes on. While it is a bit of a heavy read, there are so many moments of light and love.
I did struggle a bit during Mae’s perspective sometimes. She is incredibly smart – much smarter than I am – and tends to speak in formulas and intense scientific explanations that I struggled to follow. I found myself skimming those bits. But it was definitely interesting to see how she applies math and science to every day life and sorting through her emotions.
I found myself enjoying Hannah’s parts of the story more, just for the ease of readability. Her sections are full of emotion, passion, and pain. She truly undergoes so much growth throughout the story, and it isn’t always easy.
Overall, this story really left an impression on me. It was a little difficult to get engaged in the beginning, but by the end, I didn’t want it to be over. There are some books that just suck you in and take you on an epic journey, and this was one of them.
You can purchase a copy of Little Universes here (amazon) or here (book depository).
Learn more about the author here
