Trigger warnings: Compulsion, natural disasters, trauma, drug addiction
This book, by nature, discusses humanity and what makes a person worth saving. Anyone who struggles with feeling worthless or has severe issues where they feel the need to prove themselves might want to avoid this particular book.
Synopsis: January 29, 2035.
That’s the day the comet is scheduled to hit—the big one. Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter near their hometown of Amsterdam to wait out the blast, but Iris is nowhere to be found, and at the rate Denise’s drug-addicted mother is going, they’ll never reach the shelter in time.
Then a last-minute encounter leads them to something better than a temporary shelter: a generation ship that’s scheduled to leave Earth behind and colonize new worlds after the comet hits. But each passenger must have a practical skill to contribute. Denise is autistic and fears that she’ll never be allowed to stay. Can she obtain a spot before the ship takes flight? What about her mother and sister?
When the future of the human race is at stake, whose lives matter most?
Review: I quite enjoyed On the Edge of Gone. Denise is living in a near future where a comet is going to hit earth. She is also autistic which, as a neurodivergent person, is comforting to read. Seeing Denise use compulsive behaviors to calm down from breakdowns and seeing the way she interacted with people was very familiar. I loved seeing her look for ways to be helpful to others without losing the things she loved. I also felt for her every time she had to interact with her addict mother. Corinne did a great job of sharing Denise's struggles without making them the point of the story. It was interesting seeing how someone with autism might react to this kind of situation. Throughout the story, we learn that Denise's sister is trans, and I think Corinne did a wonderful job of showing how someone with autism might struggle with that kind of change, but ultimately understand. We get snippets of conversation between Iris and Denise where they figure out, together, exactly how Iris feels.
I was hooked on the story from the start. It has survival elements, some mysteries, and even a bit of romance. On the Edge of Gone sounds like it would be a heavy sci-fi story. It isn't. This story really focuses on getting prepared so a ship can launch into space. Still, we get a lot of interactions between different survival groups, so we get a full idea of how different people navigate this new-ish environment. Being set near Amsterdam was fascinating and I loved seeing what that was like. There were aspects of the story that felt unresolved, but this was still a great novel. I can't wait to read more of Corinne's works.
Engaging story following an autistic girl as she copes surviving after a natural disaster.
4 howls
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