Sixteen-year-old Eliza Miller has never made a phone call, never tried on a pair of jeans, never sat in a darkened theater waiting for a movie to start. She's never even talked to someone her age who isn't Amish, like her.
A Summer of Good-byes
When she leaves her close-knit family to spend the summer as a nanny in a suburb of Chicago, a part of her can't wait to leave behind everything she knows. She can't imagine the secrets she will uncover, the friends she will make, the surprises and temptations of a way of life so different from her own.
A Summer of Impossible Choice
Every minute Eliza spends with her new friend Josh feels as good as listening to music for the first time, and she wonders whether there might be a place for her in his world. But as summer wanes, she misses the people she has left behind and the plain life she once took for granted. Eliza will have to decide for herself where she belongs. Whichever choice she makes, she knows she will lose someone she loves.
Above is the description that is in the inside cover of the hardcover copy I have of this book.
This book was written by Nancy Grossman. Nancy Grossman lives in Chicago where most of this book is actually set. A World Away is her debut novel.
This book turned about to be pretty amazing. I couldn't put it down about 1/4 to 1/2 of the way through. It took me a few chapters to get into it but that is how I tend to get into books anyway because I'm usually still going off of a high on how the last book I read ended.
This story starts out in Iowa with Eliza Miller and her mother getting ready for "Stranger Night" which is really just a bunch of English people coming over and eating dinner while finding out what the Amish life is like. This story is told from Eliza's perspective and it's really a great read especially if you're into books about the Amish. This book was really cool to read because instead of just seeing how the Amish live and some of the hardships they have there it goes through Eliza's rumspringa, which is what Amish 16 year olds call their exploring year. (At least that's how I perceived it, though that may not be the way it was told in the book.)
Eliza really wanted to get out of the Amish world and experience the "real" world. While working at an inn, which was what her mother decided was what Eliza would be doing for her rumspringa, she met a lady named Rachel who wanted Eliza to come be a nanny for her in Chicago. Eliza had to try hard to convince her parents to let her leave but when they finally did Eliza felt like she was floating on air.
While Eliza is in Chicago helping out Rachel she meets a boy named Josh who says that he will show her everything there is to know about being in the "real" world. Over the course of the summer she gets t o make her first phone call, take her first picture of herself and go dancing for the first time. She also finds some family secrets along the way that make it hard for her to choose where to go in the end.
Overall, I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I suggest that teenage girls and possibly young adults read this as well. It was such an intriguing book and it really made you think about that if you knew a world where there were no electronics or any of the things we consider normal here, how would it feel to be thrown into a world like ours. With me personally, I would be terrified and ask to go back home!
I hope that this review helped you out in what to read. I really would enjoy if you guys reading this would leave me a comment on how to make these better because I want to do more reviews of books that I have read this past year but I don't want them all to sound as stupid as these. Thanks for the help if you do comment.
Until the next review,
-Aly
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