Pronoun battle in “Fans of the Impossible Life” by Kate Scelsa

Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

© Pan Macmillan

2.5/5
Fans of the Impossible Life
Kate Scelsa

In the book description, Fans of the Impossible Life was pitched as a bisexual love triangle, so naturally, I was excited to read it. Sadly, that’s quite a bit of a descriptive stretch. A bisexual love triangle is not within these pages; really, this book is about three teenagers dealing with some heavy problems (mental illness, homophobia, depression, suicide, bullying) with a touch of not-really-romance thrown in.

The premise and characters of Fans of the Impossible Life were decent, however the writing style was not enjoyable. The story switches between the three main characters — Jeremy, Mira, and Sebby — which in itself is fine, but it also literally changes POV.  It switches from first person to third person to second person point of view with each character change. Those switches made the reading experience clunky and unpleasant.

Had the POV stayed consistent throughout the character changes, I do believe I would have enjoyed the story more. The inconsistencies between the POVs disrupted the flow. I’d be all into Jeremy’s POV with lots of ‘I’s, and then BAM we’d switch to Mira and it’s all ‘he’ and ‘she’. Then just as I was getting into the groove of Mira’s POV, I got slammed upside the head with Jeremy’s always awkward second person ‘you’.

Despite my discomfort of the pronoun battle Jeremy, Mira, and Sebby were fairly developed characters. Each one had their own set of problems and had the depth to make me care about their lives. It’s such a shame I couldn’t enjoy their stories because of the way it was written.

Kate Scelsa’s writing style was simply not for me. However, if shifting from first to second to third POV does not put you off, give this book a shot. You’ll know by the first 30 pages or so whether or not it’s for you.

Fans of the Impossible Life will be released September 10, 2015. You can pick up your own copy here (Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo)

I received an advance reading copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

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