2016 Book – Page 6 – Sometimes Leelynn Reads

“Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity’s last war, then I am the battlefield.” – Cassie Sullivan

Remember watching all of those movies about alien invasions, and somehow the humans find a way to pull together and kick their sorry asses back to where they came from? Yeah, that’s a load of crap. If aliens really did come down to Earth and invade us, we would lose. Terribly. Most of us would die before the aliens finally won. And we would have no way to fight against them. The aliens would destroy us before we ever found a way to take back our planet, and by that time it would be too late.

The world would be theirs.

It started back in 1995, or even earlier. We don’t know it for sure. All we know is that in 1995, the first phase of their invasion happened. It was “the intrusion”, where they inserted themselves into the minds of fetuses, unbeknownst to the mother carrying them. This step, this one step that seemed so strange, so minuscule, only to be mentioned in the prologue and never again, was what turned the tide for the Others. This tiny step in their plan was what made them different all the other aliens we read about or watched about. The ones that inhabited our fantasies never thought to insert themselves into our world years earlier, to have sleepers in some very important positions in the government. They even had sleepers in normal people, those who would be least expected to turn on their families when the time came. Apparently, that’s all it took to destroy humanity as we know it.

We are taken into a post-apocalyptic world where over 97% of the world’s population has been killed. The alien invasion took place in “waves”, as we are told from Cassie Sullivan. Each wave was deadlier than the last, and now what’s left of humanity is waiting for the 5th wave to happen. They know this can’t be it. They know that the Others aren’t done with them yet. They just don’t know what’s coming. We follow the lives of Cassie Sullivan, Ben Parrish, and Evan Walker: three very different people all trying to survive in this world. They all have that one thing that was keeping them alive, and they have to hold on to it with all of their strength and will.

This book was breathtaking. I usually don’t enjoy a book when the narrators switch back and forth, but this time I really appreciated it. It actually makes it better to understand, especially since our characters aren’t omniscient. It feels like mostly everything gets explained in this book, although there are two more books before the story is completely over. I really rooted for Cassie to find her little brother, especially after finding out how they got separated in the first place. She mentioned how much this attack on the world made her lose her trust in everyone, feeling like the only way to survive is to be alone. It seemed to be working for her until she’s almost killed by an Other, and then she had to learn how to trust the guy who saved her life.

I wrote about Cassie a lot because she is my favorite character. I feel like she has so much more to go through before she can really trust again, but she’s getting there as much as she can. She finally found her brother, and although he has been through so much more heartbreak and struggle than any normal five year old should, he still looks up to his big sister the way he always will. This book is so much more than a girl trying to save her brother from the Others, and it’s so much more than your typical alien invasion book. This is a story about family, survival, finding yourself, and maintaining your humanity no matter what.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

The odds of the same pair of jeans fitting four different girls with four very different body types is pretty much impossible, right? Well, usually that would be correct, but in this case, not so much. Carmen Lowell, one of the main characters of this book, happens upon a pair of jeans at a second hand clothing store that she only buys because she didn’t want to leave empty handed. But then she forgets all about them until the day before her and her three best friends separate for the first time in their lives. It’s summertime, and all four girls will be off having their own adventures for once, without the support and companionship of one another. It’s then, in Carmen’s room, that the Pants resurface, where Lena gets the idea that all of them should try them on to see who should get them. This is where it all begins, where the Sisterhood begins.

This book follows the story of four different girls: Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget. Four very different personalities but all very close to one another. They became the best of friends in part to their mothers, dubbed The Septembers by their prenatal yoga instructor. The girls were inseparable, during the good and the bad times. Since this is the first time that the four of them won’t be around one another, they are forced to deal with things on their own, with only the Pants to serve as their anchor when all hell is breaking loose.

This is a book that is very close to my heart, although it took me many years to finally get the nerve to finish reading it. I watched the movie when it came out, seeing all of my favorite characters come to life and finally getting to see how this novel ends. The character that I related to the most was Carmen, especially because she had to come to terms with the fact that she was angry with her father, and she needed to confront him with what was always bothering her: why he left her and her mom and what made his new family so much better than his old one. It hit me the most because this is how I feel personally, and I envy how brave Carmen was to finally tell her father how she really feels.

The Pants may not be something that’s real to me, something that I can hold on to when I feel the need to empower myself, but maybe I don’t need it. Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget may feel like they needed the Pants that summer, as a way to encourage them to get through this tough time, but in reality they just needed one another. More letters, more phone calls, more communication between the four of them so that they wouldn’t feel like they were alone during the summer. Whatever happened to them, whatever they needed to get through in order to grow up, it made them stronger in themselves, and stronger in each other.

Rated: 5/5 Stars