The Girl In Between

It's Heather here, this is such a great book!

Author: Laekan Zea Kemp

Published: September 2014

Publisher: Amazon Media EU (though I’m unsure on whether this was the publisher or just the seller)

My rating: ★★★★

THIS BOOK IS FREE ON KINDLE RIGHT NOW – GO AHEAD AND BUY IT! I was scouring the young adult/fantasy books on my Kindle when, amongst numerous blokes dramatically flaunting their bare and tattooed chests on book covers, I found this. I know the saying – don’t judge a book by its cover – many a time has a book cover been deceptive to me (see my review on the light of the fireflies), but I really wanted something a little different from the whole ‘woah it’s a sassy teenage girl who overreacts about literally everything that falls in love with a sub-human’ tat that you tend to find. Anyway, enough ranting.

The Girl In Between refers to Bryn, who has Klein-Levin syndrome, which the book description romanticises to sleeping beauty syndrome. Fear not though, the book itself goes against this poetic and lovely yet totally wrong idea of the syndrome being ideal. The disease is fairly rare; it basically means that sometimes Bryn will fall into a deep sleep that lasts - well it’s hard to define exactly how long her sleep does last for, considering it varies from a few months to three days. I dedicate ten minutes each day to whining about how exhausted I am to my friends, and a further twenty minutes to mentally wishing I was asleep. At first the idea of having such a long sleep seems serene and precious, but Laekan Zea Kemp really puts the reader into Bryn’s head; we feel her frustrations at missing out on key parts of life, her loneliness fluttering like a bird trapped in her chest, the exclusion and the stigmatisation from the kids at school, the constant feeling of selfishness, the panic over whether her mother’s life is mostly spent caring for her. It’s a burden that I would wish upon no one. The saddest part of the book is the reality – Klein- Levin Syndrome is not fictional, much like when reading Regeneration, this mingling of real issues and story makes it all the more distressing. Bryn’s case is unique; she is transported to a landscape of memories whilst sleeping, so spends the time hiking a place that sweeps between her grandfather’s farmhouse, the caravan she used to live in, beaches and various other places. She is completely alone here. Meanwhile at home, she mechanically eats and uses the bathroom when necessary. That is until, during one episode, a boy falls into her landscape; someone that is neither a part of her memory nor has a memory of his own.

I really am trying to avoid spoilers in this review since I plan on encouraging (or forcing) my friends to read this book, so if I do breach this then do comment and let me know. The protagonist is never described as pretty, her disease means she binge eats at points and her shape can go from very underweight to ‘chubby’. I loved this. I really hope they don’t disrupt this aspect if the book is ever turned into a film. I was flabbergasted to find a review on the book that said the poetic and descriptive nature of the book was bad? I’ve read far too many young adult books that seem to be under the illusion that plot is the only thing that makes a book worthy of being read – if you cannot visualise the book, if it does not make you think or echo the concern the characters mentally voice then is it really literature? I really like flowery bits and bobs, I want to feel everything that the protagonist feels, I want to see and smell and ponder even the silliest of details that seem utterly fatuous. Whilst I commend the author for integrating some of this detail into her book, I’d like to have more of it. The plot is brilliant, really impressive, with nice little details about how her family and friends are also having… well… lives… several books seem to disregard anyone but the protagonist so it’s always good to have some other characters actually focused on. There were some exceptional characters, some less so. Felix was the perfect, typical teenage lad. Her grandmother was hilariously prude, complacent and ‘old fashioned’. Drew was frustratingly good at bending people’s words to fit his situation. These three were absolutely spot on. At points, one may argue that it’s confusing to determine what is in Bryn’s head as opposed to what is real, though I see this as a benefit since Bryn herself is just as confused as the reader.

The book ends in a real ‘wi-fi is buffering’ moment (I was going to say cliff-hanger, but that seemed a little cliché). You’ll hence be glad to discover that there are in fact two more books currently out in the same series and another on its way! This is a great book that’s easy to read and has an intriguing and imaginative plot that blends the serious issue of Klein-Levin syndrome into a fictional adventure. Please do comment below if you’ve read or are intending to read it!