Sarah Crossan is the kind of author who makes me even more grateful that I work in a library.
Because every single time I see one of her books arriving to a library for the first time, I can check it out to my library card before it has even hit the shelves. (is that abusing my power? oopsie)
I am incredibly glad that Toffee made it to the libraries before they all closed for Covid.
What a whole treat.
I don't know how Crossan so consistently weaves stories based around incredibly unlikely situations with unusual main characters and still makes it so wholly relatable.
But it doesn't matter how she does it - all that matters is that she's done it again.
This is a beautiful story about... a lot of things really. Healing. Friendship. Family. Empathy.
As with all of Crossan's books, it's written entirely as a series of poems. But that doesn't detract from the storytelling at all. Perhaps some characterisation is lost... but whatever it may lack in words, this storytelling technique makes up for with FEELS.
Surprisingly I made it through this book completely dry-eyed. I honestly thought I would be bawling because I know just how "cruel" of an author Crossan can be... but this book left me feeling far more renewed as my own person and also proud of these newfound characters than sad.
The message this book spreads is a positive one - about saving one's own self from a situation rather than waiting for a saviour. But that wasn't the only message. This is what makes Crossan's books so exceptional: the LAYERS. The depth.
It was also about truly paying attention to people. It was about hiding sometimes but always coming out to deal with an issue in the end. Also what it means to truly care for someone.
I don't have any family members suffering from dementia but I imagine that if I did then reading this book would be a positive kind to read on the subject. Sarah Crossan once again touches such a sensitive subject with all tenderness and kindness, showing sides of the matter that are often ignored.
Basically: Thank you Sarah Crossan - this book was quick, easy to read and beautiful in many ways, and gave me the reading boost I really needed.