Review : A map of the known world - Lisa Ann Sandell

Title : A map of the known world

Author: Lisa Ann Sandell

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

About the book:

Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things-I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life's ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There's so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.

My Review
“A map of the known world " is about a girl named Cora whose life has been abruptly and unpleasantly changed after the death of her elder brother Nate.
Cora is just 14 years old. And after the death of her brother, everything changes. It’s been 6 months and her parents have not come out of the grief. This is affecting Cora in many ways. She is about to join high school and she is afraid. Her only best friend does not know what and how to talk to her. She is always been seen by everyone as a sister of a boy (Nate) who died.Cora wants to move away from this small town. The house has become the house of grief!! She doesn’t want to stay here in this small town anymore. But she can’t get out of here.

"Here, I know every twist of every road, every blade of grass, every face in this town, and I am suffocating." Oh how lovely the author Lisa Sandell has written it. Soon Cora starts mapping the real world locales in her artwork by sketching and painting maps.
This is the only thing which is in her control and she finds peace in it.

Nate is her brother, but she doesn’t completely know him. Nate has hidden his artistic side from everybody. And in this his only partner was his best friend Damein.
Damein was in the same car when Nate had died.But as time passes, Cora starts taking interest in Damein. He shows her and tells her many things about Nate. Soon she realizes that she and her parents never knew Nate. Of course it was very painful for her to know that. But then she decides that she won’t let her brother be recognized as a reckless one.

The author has written the book so wonderfully; that there was no need to write explicitly about each and very character in it. This book is like a Pandora’s Box filled with emotions.

I loved it :)