I haven’t read something as deeply raw and emotional as Set Me Free in a very long time. This was a story told by the only person who could really tell it.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
I’m always a sucker for books with interesting perspectives, and Laura Freeman—who spends the majority of the book dead—fulfilled this perfectly. Even if she weren’t unique in the fact that she narrates the absence of her life rather than the presence of it, her moxie, sensitivity, and tenacity would differentiate her from other YA characters anyway. Too often, in books with similar situations as Set Me Free, I see protagonists who are whiny, annoying, or just plain boring. Laura is absolutely none of these things. She’s deep. She shows emotion like a normal person. The relationships she has with people are messy and strong and wonderful all at once, like real relationships are.
Right now, in the time and place we are in, the story that Set Me Free tells is one that so desperately needs to be told. Jones doesn’t shy away from brutal images, gut-wrenching violence, and harsh interactions—if the world seems to be too okay with these things happening, then why shouldn’t someone who is not okay with these things not depict them in their full, horrifying light? Jones isn’t afraid to get political, which is something I personally find courageous and necessary in a society that has made political discussion taboo. Throughout the book, the reader forgets that Jones is so young. It’s kind of a defense mechanism, really: no one as young as Jones should be able to write about such terrible things in such vivid detail. But, hauntingly, she nails it.
Set Me Free is definitely one of the most important books I have read in 2019, and probably one of the most important ever. Everyone needs to read this book.
*Disclaimer: I won my copy of Set Me Free in a giveaway sponsored by Kayla Jones, but the nature of my review was in no way affected by this.
Comments
Post a Comment