How It Feels to Float

     When I was looking for a book to read, I was having trouble finding something that sounded interesting to me. Until I found How It Feels to Float by Helena Fox. It caught my eye because I learned that the main character is Australian, and all of my dad's side is Australian too. Although I didn't know much about the book besides that, I gave it a try since I didn't have any other choice. 

    Biz, the main character, is a 16 year old non conforming girl who is going through the process of finding her identity. It's also important to mention that she's also dealing with the loss of her father 10 years ago. She sometimes sees and hears her father, but it's never exactly explained why or how she is. Biz is portrayed as a social outcast, and there is a new boy at school, Jasper. The two unformally meet when Jasper saves Biz from drowning at the beach. Soon after this incident, Biz and Jasper form a great friendship full of support and positivity. 

    The story revolves around Biz trying to figure out the mystery behind her father's death, by early on figuring out similarities between her grandfather and her father's death. Biz struggles through mental illnesses throughout the entire book, and different revelations cause her to spiral deeper into these. Although she has these spirals, she has support systems including friends, family, and even photography that eventually help her way out of her depression. There is so much more I could eloborate on and talk about, but I don't want to spend too much time summarizing the book.

    As I began reading the book, I knew I had one connection to the main character, but that was it. Biz went through so many hardships throughout the book and before, and I couldn't imagine having to live through them. I haven't gone through these, but the melencholy, detailed perspective that Biz gives throughout the book, gives me a good idea of how it feels. The book has a poetic, unusual format, that gave me more to interpret while reading. The topic was very heavy, and the story was heartbreaking. But I loved every word of it. Would recommend to anyone who asked. 

10/10

    -Ava Roberts 

Comments

  1. Abigail BelloNovember 13, 2023 at 1:33 PM

    Hello Ava, I like how you were comparing and contrasting yourself with biz! Aussie 4 life!! NAURR there is no Australian flag. :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lucas T.December 5, 2023 at 12:33 PM

    I love the descriptions you use when talking about this book. It seems like, although you can relate to Biz in one way, you found that Biz actually ended up being much different. I wanted to note that a common theme I end up seeing in books/shows is that someone gets saved from drowning by another person, and that's when the two characters first meet, which I also see here.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The basics to photography: "Photo Basics"

Image
         This blog is going to be about my thoughts on the beginner’s guide to photography, Photo Basics. This book is written by Joel Sartore, a photographer and contributor to National Geographic, and is a tutorial on how to become a better photographer. I checked out this book over the summer because I was going on a road trip and wanted to take good photos. Although I had only been able to read the first 3 chapters before going, it still made my photos look much better.     The first chapter talked about the different components of a camera and equipment. It gave brief descriptions on the different types of cameras and talked about the anatomy of a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera (one of the common ones). Then it discussed about different tools for stabilization (tripods), lighting, lenses, and other gear that Sartore found helpful in his experiences. But the most important part about this chapter (at least to me), was the sectio...
Read more

I Read the Hunger Games in One Night, Was it Worth It?

Image
  The motivation for this journey spiraled from a conversation in which my lack of reading the Hunger Games was mentioned, and my mother insulted me for not reading “pivotal works of literature for gen-Z.” So, for some reason that made more sense at the time, I made myself a challenge. I would read the entirety of the Hunger Games (first book) before I saw her the next day.  Now the first issue I encountered in this journey was getting hold of a book. I did not own a copy, it was far too late at night to go buy one, and it was crucial that I read it that night. Luckily, this issue was easily combated by the internet’s vast libraries and E-books (and I definitely didn’t just find an illegal PDF online).  Prior to starting the novel, I could tell it was going to be a rough start as it was already almost 1:00 am, and I knew I would have to lock in if I wanted to finish it in time to get some sleep. There was also the imminent danger of wrecking my sleep schedule past repair ...
Read more

Why Greg Heffley is an Unreliable Narrator and is Also Possibly the Worst Character in Literary History

Image
       The first sentence in the entire series of Diary of a Wimpy Kid is Greg Heffley forcefully telling the audience what to believe. “First of all, let me get something straight: This is a JOURNAL, not a diary.” Greg Heffley does not let the reader come to any ideas on their own, and instead is instructing the reader on what to believe. This singular sentence sets up the reader with this feeling that Greg Heffley is not going to be a humble, selfless narrator. This demanding, entitled, selfishness is something repeated in Heffley’s narration over and over as the first book goes on and other books come out. In just the second page of the first book, Heffley flaunts his ego by claiming that one day he will be rich and famous, and have better things to do than answer stupid peoples questions. Which means he was basically announcing that he viewed himself smarter than the greater majority of the entire world. On that same page he claims to be the smartest at his schoo...
Read more