The Town With No Mirrors
Christina Collins
Netgalley Summary:
In a modern-day utopian community where mirrors, photos, and even words like beautiful and ugly are forbidden, a girl who has never seen her own face harbors a guilty curiosity about the outside world. A thoughtful exploration of self-image in a world familiar to readers of The Giver and The List.
Zailey has never seen her own face. She's never seen her reflection, or a photo of herself, or even a drawing. In the special community of Gladder Hill, cameras and mirrors are forbidden: it's why everyone's happier here. Nobody talks about anyone else's appearance. You're not supposed to even think about what other people look like, or what you look like.
But Zailey does.
She knows her superficial thoughts are wrong, and her sketchbook, filled with secret portraits of her classmates and neighbors, could get her in trouble. Yet she can't help but think those thoughts, and be curious about the outside world where she once lived, years ago. Most of all, she wonders what it's like to see herself—her own face.
When Zailey suddenly finds herself beyond the gates of her town, she has a chance to see if what she's been taught about the outside world is true and search for the mother she barely remembers. Only then will she find out the real story about Gladder Hill. But is she prepared for the truth?
My Review:
8.7/10
Firstly, thank you so much Sourcebooks for giving me the ability to read this book digitally, before it comes out. Now let me get to the review.
This book was extraordinary. Better than The Giver even. It had some similar themes to The Giver and somewhat of the same setting, but it was way more captivating. Firstly, the idea of this story is brilliant, especially for the world we live in today, and how it deals with body image and how we, the people, perceive ourselves, and others. This was a fresh and original idea, which I had never read before.
The characters were all well developed, and you can see in the book the journey the main character, Zailey, goes on. I really don't want to give too much away because this is one of those books that if I give too much away, it won't be as powerful of a book. The world building the author used was hyper-realistic, and sometimes I wish I was in Gladder Hill, where commenting on someones looks is forbidden. Sounds nice, right?
OVERALL:
This is Christina Collins second standalone book, and for a new author, I truly couldn't tell. It was like she had written hundreds of books and perfected the way of a writer. Despite this being categorized as a Middle Grade book, I think this book would also apply to all young adults.