Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu

If you could escape grief by giving up your memories, would you? Something terrible happened to Elodee’s family, and now her parents have decided to move to Eventown for a fresh start. Elodee and her twin sister Naomi are initially excited about the things they remember from a visit a few years ago: the amazing ice cream shop, the beautiful views at the end of a hike, the way the air always smelled like roses. But while Naomi is eager to embrace the perfection and blend in to life in Eventown, Elodee misses her creative, imperfect way of doing things. In Eventown, she can use the recipes she was given to cook perfect meals every time, but she’d rather try her own wild flavor combinations, even if they don’t always turn out the way she wants. And she would rather remember the things Eventown wants her to forget, even if the memories sometimes hurt.

I thought the premise here was interesting, but it felt to me like the author belabors the point. For a relatively short book, it dragged at times, and the narration rambled. I got sidetracked by details: a rose bush is described as blooming in March, in a place where Elodee mentions the need for down coats? (In Eventown the roses apparently always bloom, but this rose bush was blooming in their old town.) Elodee’s cooking skills are pretty advanced, but otherwise she and the other kids seem young for their age. Also, considering that one of the main messages of the book is about embracing discomfort and the messiness of life, I thought the ending was a little too neat. All in all, this didn’t entirely work for me, but it’s gotten great reviews and a lot of people love it. If you enjoy juvenile fiction with magical realism, and don’t mind concept trumping plot, you might like this better than I did.

(Reviewed from a copy borrowed through my library system.)