Order “The
Glimpse” HERE
INTRODUCTION: First of all, I would like to stress that the girly cover and blurb for The Glimpse, which seems to indicate another
“paranormal love story” in the vein of Twilight
and such, are completely misleading. I had read the ARC some time ago before the
artwork and blurb were finalized, and was really surprised by what they had
chosen for the book!
The Glimpse is much more than that: it is a brilliant, fast-paced adventure that raises
many contemporary worries about the science of DNA and its possible
consequences. In short, The Glimpse
is another illustration of the saying: don’t judge a book by its cover…
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Claire Merle has worked for
some years within the British film industry, before moving to France where she
currently lives. The Glimpse is her
first novel.
FORMAT/INFO: The Glimpse is 432 pages long. June 7, 2012 marked the UK Paperback and Ebook publication of The Glimpse via Faber & Faber.
OFFICIAL PLOT
SYNOPSIS: In the not so distant future, society has been divided into Pures and
Crazies, according to the results of a DNA test.
When Ana
finds out there was a mistake with her test, her whole world crumbles. Now,
Pure-boy Jasper is her only hope of
salvation.
But when Jasper
disappears, Ana is distraught. She
sets off on his trail, determined to solve the mystery of his abduction. In
doing so she uncovers some devastating truths, but she also learns to love as
she has never loved before…
ANALYSIS: Again,
dear reader, this is not a love story! The
Glimpse deals with dark and disturbing themes such as abduction, mental
illness, death and deception by your family...it is far from the standard pink
romance, even if this element is present.
For
starters, The Glimpse introduces readers
to a dystopian world where DNA is used to discriminate people by determining a “person’s
predisposition to mental illness.” This is not a new or revolutionary idea—in
France for example, there have been heated discussions about whether to test
criminals for “criminal genes”—but the concept works well, while raising
interesting questions about the ethical issues of DNA testing. The world itself
is very detailed and credible, and overall the writing is much better than in
most YA novels I have read.
Secondly,
The Glimpse features well-drawn and
emotionally engaging characters led by the main protagonist Ana. Ana is wild, with a strong character forged by years of bullying by
the institution after it is discovered that she is not, in fact, Pure. She escapes
to explore the City by herself (where all the Unpure live) and is open-minded
enough to question the doctrine she has been made to believe all her life,
which leads to Ana rebelling against
the established order.
Plot-wise,
The Glimpse is very gripping and
fast-moving, with many unpredictable revelations and twists sprinkled throughout
the novel, which made the book enjoyable to read.
In
the end, Claire Merle’s The Glimpse is a great
adventure novel, which I really enjoyed and warmly recommend to all YA readers!
12:01 AM | 
Posted by
Robert |
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2 comments:
I'm so glad you reviewed this because I would never have given this a second look based on the cover. I'm not totally against YA but I'm not a fan of the romance variety. Now I'll be sure to check it out.
You definitively should! I'm not a huge fan of YA either, yet it is a term that hides some terrific books!
I guess it is a marketing question for publishers though, but it's a somewhat questionable choice as a big part of their audience is not attracted to their books - shame!