Beautiful, sad and thoughtful!
Synopsis
From the author of When Elephants Fly comes an exceptional new novel about falling down, risking everything and embracing what makes us unique. Don’t miss this compulsively readable novel about the most unlikely of heroes.
Danger “Danny” Danielle Warren is no stranger to falling. After losing an eye in a childhood accident, she had to relearn her perception of movement and space. Now Danny keeps her head down, studies hard, and works to fulfill everyone else’s needs. She’s certain that her mom’s bitterness and her TV star father’s absence are her fault. If only she were more-more athletic, charismatic, attractive-life would be perfect.
When her dad calls with an offer to join him to film the next episode of his popular survivalist show, Danny jumps at the chance to prove she’s not the disappointment he left behind. Being on set with the hottest teen movie idol of the moment, Gus Price, should be the cherry on top. But when their small plane crashes in the Amazon, and a terrible secret is revealed, Danny must face the truth about the parent she worships and falling for Gus, and find her own inner strength and worth to light the way home.
Audiobook Review
5 stars
Narrator: Caitlin Davies
This is my second book by Nancy Fischer Richardson (Nan Fischer) and I plan on reading all her backlist books! She always grabs my by the heart, make it bleed but then gives me hope. Yet I’ll thank her every time, oh the irony!
What’s The Speed of Falling Objects about?
The story is about overcoming your fears and becoming your own North.
Danger Daniel lost one eye at seven after an accident and her dad left soon after. He wasn’t there when she had her operations to get a prosthetic eye. He was absent when she had nightmares, was afraid of everything.
Only her mom stayed, night and days, coping and reassuring hera the best she could. And that led to a lot of resentment from her mom for her dad.
Yet Dani finds him all the excuses in the world.
He is an adventurer and now has a survival show. He is always busy, traveling the world. He always meets important people…
Now soon seventeen, Dani wants to reunite with her father, be his buddy again.
And when he offers to participate in one of his shows in the rain forest, she agrees even if she is afraid of everything: heights, spiders, snakes, plane, …
As fate would want it, the plane crashes somewhere in the rainforest. Their cameraman dies on impact, then their pilot and then…
We follow Dani as she tries to be brave, to impress her dad, to be who he’d like her to be: fearless.
I wanted to tell her to stop. That he was not worth it. That she was such a better person than him. Dani is smart, caring and so very brave, facing her fears and forging her path through the rainforest.
There will be a hell of a character growth in that book!
Dani took risks to be someone else than her, the frightened pigeon, to become her own person.
And there is a lot of pain and sadness too, I was crying on the street while listening to the audiobook!
But you will also have beauty and wonder as nature is gorgeous in the rain forest.
By the end of the book, we realize that her dad is not the worst. He was simply flawed, a product of his childhood and in his way, he tried his best.
This is a very emotional and thoughtful survival story served by a brilliant cast and a very brave female character.
Thanks for reading.
Sophie
