Book Review: The Walls Around Us

Title: The Walls Around Us

By: Nova Ren Suma

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (4)

I was in the middle of a book slump when a friend suggested I read Nova Ren Suma’s new book, The Walls Around Us. In it she tells the stories of two girls who have never met but they share a common link; Violet, the prima ballerina and Amber, an inmate at the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center along with the girl that ties them together, the deceased Orianna. The story is told in alternating viewpoints and through Violet’s and Amber’s voices we learn about Orianna and how she went from celebrated ballerina to an inmate at Aurora Hills.

Aside from the ending, which I’ll get to later, my one major complaint is that Orianna gets lost in the story. For someone who plays a pivotal role in the stories of both girls, I felt like I didn't know who she was, maybe that was the intention of the author, but it left me feeling unsatisfied and made the ending all the more puzzling. 

The one character that really grabbed me was Violet. I hated her. It was great. She has very few redeeming qualities, and you can feel it as you read her narrative. What is so great about her is that she knows she is an unpleasant person and that her outside demeanor is a mask holding back her true self. 

The book itself is not very long and I was able to finish it in a day. However it took about three days for me to wrap my head around what I had read. I’m not even exaggerating here. When I finished, I sat back in my chair and thought “What the hell did I just read?” A few hours later, I went back and reread the last 2-3 chapters to see if I’d missed anything. I had. But instead of clearing things up, I felt as if I were looking at a ball of yarn to be untangled, but every time I pulled the string there was another knot or broken thread. Over the next two days I tried to convince everyone I know to read this book so I would have someone to talk to about it. Even though I've had some time to reflect and untangle the ending, I’m still not sure if I like or dislike it. 

Initially I was going to give The Walls Around Us a 3 star rating, mostly because Orianna’s character lacked dimension. But I changed my mind when I realized I spent the better part of a week thinking about this story. It wasn't a spectacular or life changing book, but it stuck with me long after I finished it.