Title: Fracture
Author: Megan Miranda
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 262
Source: Borrowed
Tagline: 'A lot can happen in eleven minutes.'
By the time Delaney Maxwell
was pulled from a Maine lake’s icy waters by her best friend, Decker
Phillips, her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working.
She was dead.
But somehow Delaney survived—despite the brain scans that show
irreparable damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be fine, but she knows
she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or
explain, Delaney now finds herself drawn to the dying, and when she
meets Troy Varga, a boy who recently emerged from a coma with the same
abilities, she is relieved to share this strange new existence. Unsure
if her altered brain is predicting death or causing it, Delaney must
figure out if their gift is a miracle, a freak of nature—or something
else much more frightening….
Delaney should have died. She did die. But somehow she has defied all odds to return to life seemingly unscathed. Seemingly unscathed. MRI scans show her brain to be damaged to an extent that would be fatal in any normal case, but Delaney's case isn't normal, and as the story grows, so does the abnormality of her situation. Delaney begins to feel strangely drawn to the dying.
Fracture is a story about life and death, pain and suffering, and right and wrong. With Delaney's new 'ability' comes an awareness of the constant presence of death, and she struggles with the knowledge of other people's pain, suffering and impending deaths. More troubling is the problem: is it right to 'help' ease other people's suffering? Or is it wrong to make the choice of life or death for someone else without their input?
Is thereanything Delaney can ever do to help? Or must she stand helplessly by on the sidelines and watch as people suffer and die without ever being able to do anything?
If she interferes, she may be able to prolong someone's life. But she will also be prolonging their suffering. So is it right? Or is it wrong?
In Fracture, I really liked the relationship between Delaney and her best friend, Decker. Decker was so sweet, and the two of them had been best friends since when they were little and Decker promised to make Delaney smile. They were obviously very close and cared for each other deeply, but during the story complications arise with their feelings for each other, written in a way that tugged at my heartstrings.
The ending, especially, I thought, was beautifully written. I was left with tingles as I finished the book. Seriously, I loved the ending. It was so beautiful. So beautiful that, yes I know, I just had to repeat myself to make sure I get the point across.
All in all, Fracture really was a thought-provoking, sweet and spine-tingling story, and yes, I completely recommend it to all of you!
