Book Looks are mini reviews of books I have read where I atttempt (key word attempt) to review a book using six sentences or less. This format was created by Staci at Life in a Thumb .
Sixteen-year-old Kara flees the suffocation of her suburban life, trading in her home and family for a gritty, anonymous existence on the streets of Minneapolis. She begins a perilous journey, naive, well-intentioned, and isolated as she struggles to reconnect with her older sister.
In her debut novel Susan Niz chronicles Kara’s struggles living on the streets alone. I found Kara’s voice to be quite authentic and Niz’s prose definitely had moments that were stunning and poignant. However, I am not a huge fan of a story told primarily by narration and because Kara’s story mostly documents her day to day struggle there is very little dialogue to break up her thoughts and feelings. What I did like was Kara’s strength and perseverance. Faced with overcoming the odds of finding a job and a safe place to live, Kara manages to survive and even finds a way to go back to school. Niz definitely had me emotionally invested in Kara’s story, forcing me to keep reading to find out what would become of her. The climax felt a bit manipulative and the ending too rushed and a bit too neatly package to be fit the otherwise realistic portrayal of Kara’s story.
Kara, Lost is a raw gritty look at one teenager’s struggle on the street and Susan Niz is an author whose work I will definitely read again.
Source: Received book for review from author
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