Friends, meet Van. She travels the world with her mom Sofia (who is a financial accounting genius who recently got hired to work for a Vegas casino/hotel) and her surrogate mom/nanny-since-forever Ida. A math whiz with an apparent penchant for making music, Van is navigating this new phase of her life pretty well (thanks in large part to Ida, who is her rock and source of… well, everything). At least until something very large and very wrong happens on a scale she hasn’t seen since her very early childhood days with her mom.
Van, Ida, Sofia… They all come alive and jump straight out of this book. They’re too real, which is always an amazing feat for any writer to pull off. Van does especially, with her very unique and beautiful take on the world. She’s at that point where she’s a hop skip and a throw away from being truly grown up, and not just because she’s seventeen. But because life is right here, right now, and the stakes have been raised so high that there really is no choice but to take it on with all you’ve got.
This is a story about family, and the courage to stay that way. Van keeps it real and stays absolutely true to herself all throughout this tale. Everyone goes through a time in their life when absolutely everything goes wrong. This book is a brilliant and well written story about how Van goes through this rite of passage and decides to take charge of her life.
I recommend this to anyone who’s ever gone through a traumatic “where are all the grownups” moment in their lives and found the courage to try to fix things. This is the story for anyone who’s had to fight hard for their family even if the greatest of problems are caused by said family themselves.
Fresh from finishing this book as I write it, I cannot help but think how brave and how brilliant Van is. Also, I can’t help but feel that Natalka Burian did what she set out to do in writing this book: tell a story where readers can “understand how complicated, thrilling, difficult and magical it is to be part of a family. Even if – maybe especially if – the family is imperfect.” It was a privilege for me to get to read this book, and to be reminded of this.
Welcome to the Slipstream by Natalka Burian
Publisher: Simon Pulse | Publisher Date: June 6, 2017
Source: Hardcover received from the publisher (Thanks!)
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