As the novel opens, 17-year old Ember is finally leaving the
rehab facility where she spent eight months after a horrible car crash. Not
only does Ember not remember the accident itself, but she also has no memory of
the six weeks leading up to it. She knows that her passenger – a boy her age
named Anthony – died in the crash, but she has no idea who he is or why he was
riding with her, a long way from home.
Ember is welcomed home by her loving but worried parents and
her longtime best friend, Rachel. Even these people closest to her don’t seem
to know much about what Ember was doing in the weeks before the crash or the
circumstances of the accident itself. To add to the mystery, as Ember resumes
her old life, she keeps encountering things that feel vaguely familiar and
people who seem to know her that she has no memory of. There are girls who act
as if Ember is a close friend, places she doesn’t remember that seem to have
played a big role in her pre-crash life, and mysterious graffiti symbols all
over the area that tug at her damaged brain.
Her family and old friends are glad to have Ember back, and
even her old boyfriend is back in her life, but Ember knows she is missing some
key pieces of information, parts of her old life that she can’t remember and no
one else seems to know about. All of the characters here – Ember’s parents, her
friends, her old boyfriend – feel real, as they struggle along with Ember. As
Ember works hard to strengthen her physically damaged body, her lack of
progress with her equally damaged brain frustrates her.
Ember’s story has some elements of suspense and mystery to
it, though it is not an action-packed book. Instead, the action takes place in
Ember’s head, as she tries desperately to remember what she’s lost and recover
that part of her life again. I really enjoyed this engrossing, emotional novel.
And when Ember finally makes an unexpected discovery about both her past and
her present, I was taken entirely by surprise. The audio production was
excellent, with reader Abby Craden doing a great job with all the different
characters. Loud Awake and Lost is not just about recovery but also about growth and
change, something that all teens (and adults, too!) can relate to.
Random House Audio/Listening Library
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