Dying to Know What This Book is About

By Sarah W

Aidan Chamber's eighth novel, "Dying to Know You", is a romantic fiction. It is a simple story about finding oneself in the mix of depression, death, and love. Aidan Chamber, 82, is a resident of Gloucester, England, and can be found on www.aidanchambers.com.

Karl, who is seventeen at the start of the book, is a young man in love with fishing, plumbing, and Fiorella. To prove his love for her, Fiorella demands Karl answer her fifty question test, but there is one problem; Karl is dyslexic. He knows he would never be able to answer fifty questions by himself,  so he enlists the help of Fiorella's favorite author, who happens to live in the same neighborhood.

A few weeks later, when Karl and the author finish the third question, Karl decides he can't lie to Fiorella anymore. While camping, at Karl's favorite fishing spot, he tells Fiorella he is dyslexic. She is mad that he didn't answer the questions himself but she is not as mad at Karl, as she is at the author because he agreed to help Karl. At this camping trip, many more things happen between Karl and Fiorella that lead Karl into depression, and even suicidal thoughts. Throughout the book, a friendship between the author and Karl is formed, and it changes their lives for the better.

To be honest, the first half of the book was so slow that at times I wanted to stop reading. The book, which is told in first person point of view from the author, is mostly dialogue with a few personal thoughts in between. With no indicators, it was hard to tell who was saying what. There are very few details on characters, only ages (the author's name was not even mentioned once), so it was hard to picture the characters, and their actions were unpredictable because we did not get to see much personality. The second half of the book, though rushed, was much better. More descriptions, events, and feelings were shared.

Though I was not impressed with this novel, I am interested to see what other novels Chamber has written. If you like vague books, this is the book for you, but if you want more detail and action in a book, you may want to go for something else.

Dying to Know You, by Aidan Chambers, Amulet Books, 2012, 275 pages.