Awake in the World

by Jason Gurley

Overview

In Awake in the World, Jason Gurley delivers a gorgeous debut YA novel about dreams and finding the courage to reach them.

When all was lost, they found each other.

As the sun sets off the coast of the small California town of Orilla del Cielo, the silhouettes of oil rigs loom. Their shadows mar the serene backdrop, their sharpness a reminder of unfulfilled promises. To Zach, they are also a reminder of loss—his father, an oil worker, drowned years earlier. With his family struggling to make ends meet, Zach feels he’s destined for a bleak future.

Until he meets Vanessa. She's an optimistic girl from a wealthy family whose sights are literally set on the stars. Inspired by her idol, Carl Sagan, she plans on studying astronomy at Cornell. But as oil prospectors in search of black gold know, the future is uncertain . . . and fortunes can always be flipped.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250141828
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jason Gurley is the author of Eleanor and other adult novels. His short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine and the anthologies Loosed Upon the World and Help Fund My Robot Army. Jason lives and writes in Scappoose, Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

More than a love story, this novel is a timely, moving statement about income inequity and the plight of the working poor. And yet while it is about seeming opposites. . . Gurley persistently reminds readers that pain is pain; that everyone struggles.” —Horn Book

“Buoyed by strong, likable characters and superb writing, this coming-of-age tale cuts to the core.” —Kirkus Reviews

“When Zach and Vanessa’s worlds collide, readers will be swept away on an adventure filled with love and longing. . . . A bittersweet romance built on hope and forgiveness.” —Booklist

Praise for Eleanor:

“Th[e] violent rift between past and present affords each woman the chance to offer her own kind of repentance and forgiveness and redemption. In the end, Eleanor shows that one never knows what can happen when the reset button is pushed.”
–Washington Post

From the Publisher

02/01/2019

Gr 8 Up—Grieving the death of his father and the continued legal issues surrounding his ocean-diving death, Zach plans to keep his head down in the town locals call Orilly and pick up a few more shifts to help out his family. Also grieving the loss of her father who chose to leave, Vanessa has her sights set on Cornell and only Cornell along with a career in astronomy. Vanessa seems to have life easy, with plenty of money in the family and a goal. Zach seems to be cursed at every turn. The two high school seniors from opposite sides of the track in a small town in California are drawn together in an unlikely romance. Gurley's plot, told in alternating perspectives, is well-crafted, with plenty of ups and downs to interest readers. Zach struggles with an apparent masculinity complex as he takes on the role of providing for his family while stifling his own needs and emotions. Vanessa is something of a manic pixie dream girl, despite a conversation she has with a good friend asserting that she's not. While the two have learned at least a little by the end, their internal conflicts are not completely or satisfactorily resolved, and instead emphasizes an overused and old set of social expectations. VERDICT An additional purchase.—Abby Hargreaves, District of Columbia Public Library

School Library Journal