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Flat-Out Matt |
I fell in love with Matt when I saw him through Julie's eyes in Flat-Out Love and have adored him ever since. Flat-Out Love had me in stitches one moment, and sobbing uncontrollably the next. I hold this book in very high regard, and I'm suspicious of anything trying to replicate that authenticity. With follow-ups, I always worry that the author will somehow lose the identity of the story while trying to gain a wider audience. I was 3 words in and realized I had nothing to worry about. As a reader, I felt comfort in knowing that the author had my back. Flat-Out Matt takes one of the most gut-wrenching scenes and kicks it's ass to the next century. I felt nausea reading it, and yet I couldn't stop. Jessica Park has this innate ability to make even the most difficult scenes seem poetic.
Flat-Out Matt is written with such exquisite detail that finishing it caused this feeling of emptiness in my heart. So I read it again. And again.
Through Matt, you really understand the finer intricacies of the family dynamic. At times maybe even more than one is comfortable with. It felt okay to judge them while looking in from the outside in FOL, but there are moments in FOM that you want to leave the room and let this family grieve and heal. There are moments with Celeste that I wanted to put the pages of FOM in the digital garbage-can because the intrusion into her fragile life seemed very inappropriate. It's unfortunate you can't hug a book character.
