Anna Waggener won the Scholastic Art and Writing Award in
2008 with an earlier draft of GRIM while in high school and
edited the final manuscript in college. The story can
loosely be categorized as YA paranormal fiction but not in
the traditional sense. In fact, to me it more resembles the
surrealistic fiction of Isabel Allende. While the book has
fantastical elements, it's NOT a fantasy novel in the usual
sense of the word.
Erika, the mother of three, is killed in a late-night car
accident on her way home from work. But, while dead to
everyone else, she finds herself in an afterlife-type
environment with a guide named Jeremiah.
In addition to Erika's viewpoint, we also meet her three
children: teens Rebecca, a rebel and Shawn, the responsible
one and their young sister, Megan. While the children's
grief is real, I never felt emotionally attached to them.
A third storyline explores the lives of the king and queen
of Limbo and their six children of which Jeremiah is the
youngest. The story delves a bit into the political
machinations of the land and gives insight into the dead
who remain there for fear of actually accepting their own
deaths and the other mythological creatures who inhabit the
land. I wish she had gone further in this area though as it
was the most interesting part of the story for me.
While Erika doesn't really trust Jeremiah, she does want
his help. She wants him to bring her children to her, but
no living humans have ever passed into Limbo, and Jeremiah
wants favors in return. Erika catches glimpses of her
children in their dreams which helps to tie the two
storylines together.
GRIM moves easily from viewpoint to viewpoint, and
Waggener's prose is lyrical, bringing the glimpses of Limbo
we get to life. Whether on purpose or not through, I read
the story because of curiosity as to what would happen but
I can't say I was emotionally involved. It was a book I
could put down and didn't feel drawn to pick back up again,
but I enjoyed the story, and the language even more so,
while reading it.
If you're after a YA paranormal in the style of Divergent
or Throne of Glass, this book is not for you. If you want a
novel more like Eva Luna or House of Spirits, a story
that's considered general fiction with paranormal elements
and you appreciate poetic prose, then give GRIM a try.
A fantastic debut from the winner of the Scholastic Art and
Writing Awards novel contest.
When Erika wakes up after a horrific car crash, she finds
herself somewhere between earth and heaven, between life and
death. She doesn't want to accept help from Jeremiah, who
she's not sure she can trust, even as she finds herself
drawn to him, following him into a grim city of souls. She's
not sure who wants to help her and who wants to hurt her.
And she's desperate to get back to her children.
Shawn's never thought about having to shoulder the
responsibility of caring for his young sister Megan and his
reckless older sister. And he never imagined that the three
of them would find themselves in a haunted wood, sometimes
chased, sometimes assisted, never sure where they're headed.
With Grim, the terrifically talented Anna Waggener delves
into the place where myth becomes reality, where family can
distort you as easily as it cares for you, where death and
eternity meet.
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