Sing her Home by June Austin REVIEW

Sing her Home
Review

4 stars

*This book was provided to Writers Refuge as a review copy.*

I don't think I've ever read a book quite as sad as Sing her Home is - or one quite as raw and beautiful. Sing her Home is a book about a Cassidy, a 12 year old girl, who has it pretty good, until she's 10. When her father and sister skid off the road, everything in her life spirals out of control.

The gist of it: Sing her Home takes you directly into the mind of Cassidy. It's raw, but I feel like I'm in the mind of a 12 year old. I can hear her talk. I can feel her emotions. I hurt right along with her. And this, right here, is the beauty of Sing Her Home.

But that's about all I can say about Sing her Home right here, because honestly, I don't know exactly what happened in the book. I'm not sure what was real, what wasn't, what was a dream, and what really happened.

And since I can't say anything else without revealing spoilers, so from this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

If you don't like spoilers, stop reading NOW.

Last warning!

...ok.

I knew when I started this book that it was going to be one of those weird ones. Not in a bad way - but in a way that, if the character is confused, I'm right there with her. That’s EXACTLY what happens. I feel like Cassidy doesn't have any idea what’s going on. I like her way of putting it; it's like moving between two houses. One, with her sister Ruth in it, is life, and the other, with her family, is... death? I don't know. That’s just it. I don't know anything with this book. I don't know which 'house' is real, and I don't know if Cassidy's time in foster care is real, and I don't know if her mom went nuts or just plain shot herself, because at different times in the book, we are made to think that all of the above is true. Meaning, now, I have NO IDEA what happened.

Well, not for the most part, anyways.

But at the same time, I feel like this confusion was all carefully planned by the author. Because, as I read, I kept thinking... something's missing. It's a puzzle, and pieces are missing, and I can SEE that they're missing, but it's like they've been left out in purpose. For instance: Where's Ruth, when Aunt Doreen is watching Cassidy? Ruth was just... not there.

Ruth also wasn't there when the cop told the mother that the car had skidded off the road.

So I'm starting to think - as I write this - that maybe Cassidy and the mother were also in the car when it went off the road. It only makes sense - the one person left alive is Ruth, and she's nowhere to be found when this is all going down.

Anyways, I digress.

I will take one star away - leaving you with a final 4 star review - because, at the end, I thought I would have a moment of clarity. A paragraph, or even just a few lines, telling me what really happened, what didn't, and what was imagined. That moment never came, and although maybe Cassidy also wasn't sure what had happened, I wanted to know.

Sing her Home is so beautiful. I can't stress that enough. And I can't wait for Williams Story! I will be reading it!

-Lizzie