Except then I'll have nothing to blog about...oops.
You all know the song "Scarborough Fair," right? Oldie, ballad, kind of creepy when you actually listen to all of the lyrics?
Well, what if that song were true? That's the premise behind Impossible.
Lucy Scarborough doesn't want to be like her mother, Miranda. Not super unusual in teenage girls, but it's more serious in Lucy's case: Miranda's a crazy homeless woman who had Lucy at eighteen and now floats around the area, dropping out of the radar for years at a time before coming back and making life hard for Lucy and her foster parents, Soledad and Leo.
It seems like Lucy's doing pretty well at not being Miranda, too. She's got good grades, she's on the track team, and she's even got a nice date to prom. Her life's turning out pretty well.
At least until prom night, when Lucy's date lures her away after the dance and rapes her for no apparent reason. Lucy knew he was sober all night, because they were planning on driving to an afterparty, but when he's found dead after a car wreck hours later, his BAC is off the charts. Lucy also swears he was different when he was raping her - like someone took over his body for a moment.
She moves on as best she can, taking the morning after pill to ward off a pregnancy and relying on her childhood best friend Zach for comfort. Again, things are looking up.
And then Lucy learns she's pregnant. She immediately rejects the idea of abortion - for some reason it just feels wrong, though she's not sure why. So she starts looking into her family history, and discovers that the Scarborough girls have always gotten pregnant at 18 and gone mad shortly after, and have always delivered girls. They also have their own version of "Scarborough Fair" that's been handed down from mother to child for years.
Slowly, Lucy learns that it's not just a song - it's what they need to do to break the curse on their line. Ever since their ancestress rejected the original Elfin Knight, he's enacted revenge by taking her descendants, and it's almost Lucy's turn. Together, Lucy, Zach, and her parents figure out how to accomplish all three tasks detailed in the song. When Lucy goes into labor before finishing the third one, it's a race against the clock for her to save herself and her daughter from the vengeful Knight.
I realize that this whole concept sounds insane, but the writing is genuinely amazing. The story is a great blending of magic and normalcy, and neither really overtakes the other and ruins the balance. Sure, Lucy's dealing with an ancient curse - but she can use Google to figure out valid options for completing the tasks. It's the best of both worlds.
Also, don't let the rape put you off from reading Impossible. (I mean, unless you truly cannot handle it, which is totally okay! Mental health first.) It's not gone into in detail, and it's treated with all the seriousness the act deserves. I can't say it's pleasant by anyone's standards, but I feel like it's handled well and isn't just some plot device to give Lucy an angsty backstory or anything like that.
The love story between Zach and Lucy is written well, too. It's very much a slow burn, but it feels realistic - both of them have to come to terms with realizing that they like the other person in a non-platonic manner, and that takes time. Zach and Lucy are also super considerate of each other's needs when they're making decisions, and I really like that. It makes them feel much older than they actually are, but in the kind of situations they're going through, I think they kind of need to be more mature than a typical teenager.
Overall, Impossible is a great choice for someone who likes music incorporated into their books. It's a fairy tale with a solid grounding in reality, and the stakes feel incredibly high because of it. Have fun not wanting to put it down, kids. Five stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment