Monday, February 11, 2013

ARC Review: Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: January 1, 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
288 Pages

A gritty, romantic modern fairy tale from the author of Break and Gone, Gone, Gone.

Be careful what you believe in.

Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.

Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life.

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Review:
This review may have minor spoilers.

I don't really know how to review this book. It's so different from anything I've ever read. I originally gave Teeth four stars and then I just thought, "Gosh darn it. All the stars!" And bumped up my rating because this book is pretty much perfect. I lovedalmost everything about it. 

When I think "Hannah Moskowitz," I think of angst and originality. She's an author that thinks outside the box and is not afraid to take chances. Overall, it works really well for her. She became one of my favorite authors after the release of her novel, Gone, Gone, Gone. (It's a beautiful novel. If you haven't read it, I sincerely recommend it.) Teeth was only the second book I read by her and it just enforced my belief that she's utterly brilliant.

Teeth is the story of a boy named Rudy. Rudy's parents brought his family to a magic island in hope that the magic would heal his little brother. Lonely and missing the life he used to have, he turns to a young girl, hidden away by her mother and a fishboy, named Teeth. Rudy learns a lot about this island, the story of the magic fish and the background of this beautiful, creepy, heartbroken fishboy.

Moskowitz excels at writing characters with serious issues. They tug at your heartstrings and are able pull you into their stories. Something I've noticed in the two books that I've read by her is that her characters are extremely gritty. They aren't the unhappy teens we usually read about in young adult fiction, and they are no where near the level of happy teens.

The prose in this novel is beautiful and amazingly unique. I can't think of anyone with whom to compare this style. The author can captivate you in the first sentence and steal your soul by the end of the first page. Kudos, Moskowitz. Ku-dos.

Teeth's ending is really bittersweet. These characters go through so much, and you become so attached to them all that by the end everything will hurt. It broke my heart, but gave me hope, which is what all good novels should do.

Be forewarned. This is not for people who disapprove of cursing. It is also not for those who are easily "squicked" out. There is a lot of sensitive material in this novel that some may find disturbing, others may find offensive. Go into the novel with an open mind.

There isn't a whole lot more that can be said about the book. It's something you need to experience firsthand. So… go! Experience it. Love it. Embrace the weird.

I received an e-copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review from the publisher via Edelweiss.

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