The Alex Crow

Initial Thoughts:So good! Really made me think and I loved all the dark topics that were discussed.

Review:
By now everyone should know how much I appreciate Andrew Smith and his writing. I love the humor, the wittiness, and even the absolute absurdity of his books. The Alex Crow is no exception to this. For me the writing technique was very similar to Grasshopper Jungle. The story is all intertwined between these 3 different perspectives we follow throughout the book. We have Ariel both in the present and in the past, we have Lenny and his bombing journey, and finally we have the arctic expedition in 1880. At first all these stories seemed so different but they all came together somehow.

And I know you are probably thinking that is not that weird, but once you learn about the experiments being done by the Alex Division things start to become really strange. The bionic pet Crow the Burgesses have is such a strange character and he is also somewhat central to the bizarre things that the company has been researching and conducting. The shining moments of humor in this book are the boys at summer camp. That is when we see the crazy things they get up as they piece together just what the Alex Department does.

The difference for me and this book was just how series the topics were. You had Ariel who is a refugee living with a new family in America. We learn all about the horrors that Ariel dealt with before moving to Sunday. And this story is woven into the narrative and story about the research and science experiments. I really appreciate how Andrew Smith discussed these topics while also staying weird. This book starts off in a really dark place with the attack on Ariel's village and from there we continue on this journey.

This book was not at all a disappointment. It lived up to my expectations for an Andrew Smith novel. It was weird but also intrigued me with its moral questions about just how far humans are willing to go in their thirst for knowledge. And that reincarnated bionic crow was a favorite character for me. We did not get a lot of scenes with him, but he was integral to the stories all tying together.

Loved Grasshopper Jungle, but the multiple stories didn't come together in the same zingy way here, it felt like the seams were showing where GJ felt weird and effortless. Will booktalk and see if I have takers and will be very interested in their opinions