Skip to main content

Review: The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko


The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach

The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach

My Rating: 4 stars

**Please note that the Arc copy of this book was received through NetGalley for a true and honest review**

 This book is written in the first person in regard to a 17 year old boy called Ivan who has grown up in an asylum for gravely ill children, it is implied that he and his fellow residents are all suffering from the after effects of Chernobyl which took place in 1986 and continued to effect this and near by villages with Radiation poisoning as this went into food and water supplies in that area.

 The catastrophic impact of this event although not eagerly confirmed by the Russian government is that there was an increase in both deformities, health issues and cancer in the people residing near this event.

 I would have liked this to have been fleshed out at the beginning of the book to give some explanation to those who may not be aware of this event (as I believe this is meant for a YA audience).

 I have to admit this book despite the many emotions it instills draws you back in. On a number of occasions throughout the story I had to put the book down I felt so angry, this was primarily at the constant use of the term "mutant" which had its initial meaning but I found to be unnecessary and cruel to be used throughout the text for these suffering children who are going through these ailments through no fault of their own.

 When Polina arrives the protagonists life changes and he appears to gain some semblance of hope. The wonderful character of Nurse Natalya seems to be the brightest light in this story and with her clandestine helps manages to provide them with some emotional support and direction during their unusual friendship as it develops.

 This text has been aligned to like A Fault In Our Stars, I adored this book by John Green it was brutally honest and yet heart warming at the same time.

 Yes this book is brutal, darkly comical and well written however, I found the interactions with Nurse Natalya heartfelt and loving. Unfortunately the love affair between Ivan and Polina seemed both forced and unnecessary. I despair that YA authors feel they have to include a love story in their books to make them enjoyable. It would have felt more authentic to me if it had remained as just a friendship.

 I also believe that the author Scott could have continued on with one final chapter after the conclusion of this story instead of placing the outcome of Ivan's story as somewhat of an after thought in an Epilogue.

 I did truly enjoy reading this story despite some of the areas of frustration to me and had they not been present it would indeed have been a five star book however on this occasion I gave it 4 stars.

View all my reviews
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar My rating: 1 of 5 stars This book is set in 1785 when a merchant Mr Hancock is handed into his possession a shrivelled body of a mermaid in lieu of a ship he was expecting to return. This starts an event of trying to recoup his losses by displaying the oddity to those of interest at a sum. Angelica Neal is a women used to being kept but has fallen on hard times, her previous lover has passed away and she finds herself fighting for survival and recognition to keep herself out of the high paid establishments and prostitution that will be her plight. Instead Angelica seeks a new lover and a higher status than that previously achieved. Despite the high acclaim from my fellow Book Tuber's unfortunately this book did not quite meet my expectation. I found this book to read in a very slow and dry manner which left me unable to connect either with the content of the story or unfortunately the characters....
Post a Comment
Read more

BOOK REVIEW: Always Here for You by Miriam Halahmy

Young Adult - Trigger Warning for Child Grooming on the Internet   Holly is 14 and feels alone, her best friend has moved away to Canada and her parents are dealing the normal stresses of both work and home life as well as caring for an elderly member of the family. This has caused Holly to feel both isolated and alone, spending increasingly longer amounts of time fending for herself and in the house alone, where she is terrified of every noise that she hears. Her mum does try to get her to befriend Noah, a boy in her year who is experiencing bullying from another class mate and member of his synagogue. Although Holly does not realise it this friendship may not only save Noah, but also herself. Then Holly meets Jay, someone she believes is friends with her bestie Amy and other people in school as he was posted about on an online forum, quickly this situation gets out of hand and she begins to isolate herself from those she cares about and her personality notably changes. Is Jay wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A Portable Shelter

A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am not one to always get on with a book based in magical realism however, I had heard such good things about this book I could not resist giving it a chance. This book is based on a gay couple Ruth and Liska who have moved to a remote coastal cottage in Scotland while Ruth carries their first child. Each of them spends time telling the baby stories containing moral and life lessons from what they have learnt. This includes many magical realism tales including selkies, werewolves and child-eating witches. They agree not to tell stories to the baby so each of them are relaying their tales in secret from each other. I really did enjoy the small tales included within the overall story of Ruth and Liska however, was somewhat disappointed when the concluding story was about Death. I felt sad that the child was not born during the final pages of the book and felt extremely curious to find out with a mot...
Post a Comment
Read more