Out of Darkness
Ratings2
Average rating4
15
Ratings2
Average rating4
Out of Darkness is a work of historical young adult fiction, loosely based on an actual school explosion that took place in New London, Texas, in 1937. Ashley Hope Perez has taken the explosion as her backdrop and imagined a diverse cast of characters whose broken lives are utterly captivating and tragically entangled with the school and the explosion. The central story is that of two teenagers: Naomi, who is Mexican, and Wash, who is black. It's a gripping novel about race, segregation, love, and the forces that destroy people. Author Biography.
Reviews with the most likes.
So incredibly brutal, with the slightest of hopes at the end. It's rare that I feel so gutsick in a YA book (In Darkness was the last I remember), but Perez's characters are so vivid and real and believable that when the horrifically true acts of history that the plot was churning towards finally happen, it's so hard to take. I was literally yelling “NO!” by the end of the audio book. Certainly worthy of its Printz Honor & Americas Award - A valuable book for older teens/adults, but one that would also need some matching to the reader.
