[Review] Words and Their Meanings - Kate Bassett

Title of Book : Words and Their Meanings
Author : Kate Bassett
Publisher : Flux
Publication date:  8th September 2014

Anna O’Mally doesn’t believe in the five stages of grief. Her way of dealing with death equates to daily bouts of coffin yoga and fake-tattooing Patti Smith quotes onto her arms. Once a talented writer, Anna no longer believes words matter, until shocking discoveries– in the form of origami cranes– force her to redefine family and love.

As Anna goes in search of the truth, she discovers that while every story, every human being, has a last line, it might still be possible to find the words for a new beginning.

Words and Their Meanings is a book about a girl named Anna O’Mally who lost her bruncle (brother-uncle), Joe, a year before. Despite of the long time span between Joe’s death and the present, she has a hard time dealing with the grief. In fact, the grief period supposed to be over by then, but not for Anna. She chooses to grief in a different way than most people do. She does coffin yoga and writes a daily verse on her arms. One day, when she's roaming in Joe’s room, she finds an origami crane with an unexpected message on it. Now that she has another thing to discover about Joe, she asks her friend, Nat, to accompany her unveil the mystery behind the paper crane message.

This book is told from Anna’s perspective. She has a way with words. It’s not surprising since in the book, she used to be a writer until she failed an audition to join a writing camp. In her grief, she tries to copy Patti Smith’s style. She often says that she’s a carbon copy of Patti Smith. She often acts like it’s her against the world which sometimes irritating. Because she makes everything about her. At times, I don’t understand with her way of thinking. Like when she found the paper crane, she lied to Nat and said that she found a hotel receipt. Why would she do that? It only makes thing more complicated than it already has. 

Bea, Anna’s little sister, is a cute addition to the story. She also has her own way to grief. She likes to hide in unexpected places. Mostly, she hides in places only Anna knows. As a 7 year old girl, she’s quite mature. Even Anna thinks that if Bea could go live in New York, she would be fine. She often throws naïve comments on things which able to make me laugh and want to hug her sometimes. 

Overall, Words and Their Meaning is an enjoyable read. It touches dark issue. Words and Their Meanings is a nice interlude if you’re bored with light and fluffy YA contemporary.

I received an ARC copy of this book via Netgalley.