So this evening I'll be discussing a book I read a few weeks ago but forgot to write my review of, oops. Ask the Passengers by A.S. King (pun intended, no?) tells the tale of a young girl named Astrid Jones, a high school senior struggling with her sexuality who deals with the hardships of conservative small town America, labels, love, sexuality, a pot smoking dad, and a sister and a mother who don't really understand her, and to deal with this all Astrid sits on the picnic bench in her back yard to watch the airplanes flying above as she sends her love to the passengers inside.
In a strange and lovely story about self discovery, the supernatural, the philosophical and the mundane unite as a young girl tries to figure out why the label for her love seems so necessary to other when she just wants to let her love be, both for her girlfriend, and the countless people flying above her small town every day.
There was a lot about the book I enjoyed and some I wasn't so fond of. First of all I can't say how much I adore the unspoken magic in Astrid loving the passengers. I think it's a fine example of the most beautifully simplistic and unquestioned kind of magic, it doesn't matter if what they're experiencing is truly magic, or if the character herself is imagining it all, and I find that very stunning. However, maybe it's just me, but the relationship between Astrid and her girlfriend seemed borderline abusive at times, perhaps I read into it too much, but their relationship never sat right with me with her girlfriend's random mood swings from fluffy to angry, and how frequently she tried to pressure Astrid into labeling her sexuality, and trying to convince her to enter a sexual relationship Astrid wasn't ready for, a lot of these scenes just struck me as rather wrong and I found them off-putting, yet despite all these relationship red flags, (plus despite Astrid cheating on said girlfriend) the two end up together in the end without a great deal of in depth discussion about the weirdness in there relationship.
In general I really enjoyed the book and found it to be an insightful look into the complexities of human sexuality, psychology, and the maybe magic that surrounds us every day.
Total Pages: 293
Number of Flying Platypus Tea Cup: 6/10
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