Kate A. Boorman: "What We Buried"

Title: What We Buried [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Kate A. Boorman [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Thriller/Mystery, Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2019
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Wild, unpredictable, spellbinding. Tackles human darkness, juvenile trauma and a damaged sibling relationship with honesty and depth.
Cons: Its non-linear timeline and complex (and partially open) ending may bug those who prefer a straightforward narrative.
WARNING! Violence, psychological abuse, ableism (countered), moderate gore, death by fire (offscreen).
Will appeal to: Those who can appreciate a book that messes with their heads. Those who aren't afraid to stare into the abyss.

Blurb: Siblings Liv and Jory Brewer have grown up resenting each another. Liv - former pageant queen and reality TV star - was groomed for a life in the spotlight, while her older brother, Jory, born with a partial facial paralysis, was left in the shadows. The only thing they have in common is contempt for their parents. Now Liv is suing her mom and dad for emancipation, and Jory views the whole thing as yet another attention-getting spectacle. But on the day of the hearing, their parents mysteriously vanish, and the siblings are forced to work together. Liv feels certain she knows where they are and suspects that Jory knows more than he’s telling…which is true. What starts as a simple overnight road trip soon takes a turn for the dangerous and surreal. And as the duo speeds through the deserts of Nevada, brother and sister will unearth deep family secrets that force them to relive their pasts as they try to retain a grip on the present. (Amazon)

Review: Christopher Pike meets Nova Ren Suma in what some reviewers have described as a "psychological thriller" - except I think we need a new label specifically for this book, because that one doesn't begin to convey what's at its core.

THE LONG AND WARPING ROAD

Honestly, kudos to whoever wrote the synopsis for this book, because it manages to give you an appetite for it (well, if you like twilight-zone narratives and damaged-sibling dynamics, that is 😅) without revealing its secrets. And both the actual plot and the writing deliver its promise.

I originally buddy-read this one with my friend Carrie (I reread it before writing this review), and oh, the amount of theories and speculations and nitpicking (in the best sense) we came up with. Liv and Jory's road trip in search of their parents (and of themselves, even if they don't realise that until much later) is spooky, unsettling, painfully real and yet warped in a way that makes them (and us) question everything just so. (Well, maybe we're questioning everything much harder/readily accepting that reality is broken, because we ARE here for the twilight-zone content, while they're trying to maintain a grip on their sanity 😂). All the things they experience could have a (semi)logical explanation, until they don't. Is there a supernatural force at work? Are the siblings' minds playing tricks on them? Are they even (still) alive...or real? What about their memory loops? Did those things happen the way they think they did...or when they think they did?

To tell the truth, Boorman is quite honest in her deliver - the supposed false flags she plants end up being relevant, only not in the way we though they would be. And once we (and the siblings) figure out what's going (went? will go?) on, the payoff is absolutely satisfying. Though the ending will throw you for a loop (no pun intended...maybe 😉) and leave you with...questions (thanks to Carrie above for helping me get my bearings with it, but...I still have at least one...). [...]

THE WAR AT HOME

What We Buried equally hinges on the mystery/reality-questioning aspect at its core and on the two protagonists' relationship. I'll go as far as to say that, regardless of their sibling dynamics, both Liv and Jory are well-developed, interesting and (painfully) relatable in their own way, even when the darkness they try to rein in (especially Liv) breaks the banks with sometimes extreme consequences. Both have been through a lot, even if it's easy to dismiss Liv's trauma of living in the spotlight and being groomed for it, and to think that Jory, neglected by his own parents and shunned/pitied by strangers for his Moebius syndrome, got the short end of the stick; but in the end, we come to realise that both siblings have been abused at home and left at the world's (lack of) mercy, only in diametrically different ways. That can partly explain their actions, if not excuse them, and frankly...while I was appalled by some of those, a part of me was able to recognise the same anger in myself (even if for completely different reasons), and it got me thinking about how easy it is for the victim to become the abuser.

As for their actual relationship...Liv and Jory have the chance to mend what's broken and to communicate for the first time in years. The very outcome of their trip depends on how (and if) they manage to reconcile, which requires for them to be able to actually see and - of course - listen to each other. In that regard, What We Buried calls to mind a choose-your-own-adventure/videogame scenario, where different choices can lead to different results - except there's an amount of heart and depth in it that only a novel can hold. And ultimately, this one holds a lot.

For more books that defy categories click here.

Like this book? You might also be interested in Christopher Pike: "Road to Nowhere"; Christopher Pike: "Whisper of Death"; Nova Ren Suma: "The Walls Around Us".

The whole cover. Creepy and awesome...though it led to a series of
complex, ultimately wrong interpretations/speculations/theories
when me and my friend Carrie buddy-read this book 😂.