Oh, how I do NOT miss high school!

I really enjoyed this book - It is so fun, and kept me entertained throughout the whole thing! There were some seriously nail-biting moments with daredevil Mattie, and I can totally see this becoming a movie that I would go see in a second!

Mattie is a high school junior who has some pretty quirky aspirations of becoming an escapologist. She's obsessed with Houdini and the like, but especially Akiko - an elite escapologist gone way before her time. But Mattie is determined to find Akiko's daughter and find out as much as she can. All the while, no-0ne in her life knows her secrets or desires to become this really cool performance artist. Not her parents or her family, or even her best, closest friend.

The story also has some snippets of Akikos past, the life she led, and the birth of her daughter, giving you some insight of the life of this mysterious performer and her equally closed-off daughter. We also meet Will, another one with some secrets, and several other really cool high school kids who are so well-developed, mature but fun. It pains me to think of how tough high school was, and how hard it is for kids just t be themselves.

The art of escapology is front and center, through training and Mattie's stage performances that literally have you holding your breath! But the art of escape is evident is other ways, with a lot of hiding from reality and fear of being found out.

This book is such a delight and hope it gets the attention it deserves.

This book is not something I would usually pick up but I was intrigued by the premise and the talk of escapology as it's just something new that i've never really seen explored in a book before, and I really enjoyed it. It's such an original novel that explores finding your passion but more importantly, finding yourself. This book is fun. It discusses lots of topics, and there are some slightly deeper discussions going on, but overall it's just a great feel-good read that I found myself fully immersed in.

Really sorry, just havent got around to reading it yet and the formatting was a bit iffy on my kindle - the synopsis sounds great though!

I honestly didn't know how much I would like this book and it was nice to be proven wrong. I could relate on so many levels. This was a lovely light heartened read. I will definitely look for more by this author in the future.

If you're looking for a lighthearted YA romance, I suggest you step away from this book. If you're however, looking for a unique novel about finding yourself, about growth of character AND teenage friendship and of course, a rad passion.. <i><b>What are you waiting for?</b></i>

<i>The Art of Escaping</i> is mainly about Mattie and Will. Two teenagers who go to the same school and yet have never actually interacted with each other, but find an unexpected friendship in one another. I'm not gonna lie, I totally expected this to become a sappy, cliché YA story with them falling in love with each other and yadda yadda yadda BUT! B u t!! I was pleasantly suprised by being proved wrong. This YA debut has zero nonsensical romance, no stupid acts of so called love but is focused on pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, being honest with yourself, finding yourself and ACCEPTING yourself. This is not your ordinary YA novel, and not only because one of the MC's passion is escapology (which is hella rad on itself) but because of all the things I've listed before and I just loved this book so much, I'm kind of left speechless.

This had the potential to be so much better than it was. in my opinion. I loved the escapology element of the novel, and although it was definitely a prominent part, it wasn't the only arc. There was Will's story arc, where he was conflicted about hiding his homosexuality. There were a lot of comparisons between Mattie hiding her escapology secret and Will hiding his homosexuality secret - these two just don't seem like they fit into the same category as each other, so their friendship was a weird one.

I did appreciate the diversity, but I think it could've been executed better. A lot of the 'acceptance' just read as quotes from Google Images which had been shoved into a novel to tell everyone that it's okay to be gay. And yes, I agree that gay is okay; what I don't agree with is the way Erin Callahan dealt with his homosexuality. She had the room to explore it further and I feel like she gave up halfway.

The characters were a little unbearable and cliche at times, and there was one instance where the chapter was repeated, just from someone else's perspective, and I feel like that was a waste of words which could've been used to explore something else (for example: Will's sexuality). I think the first person narrative was a mistake for this novel - even though we did get a lot of insight, it was very two-dimensional. A third person narrative would've been better I think - I would've liked to see more from Miyu's point of view, for example.

So, although the plot idea was great, its execution wasn't so great.

Okay, I didn't expect this book to be so great, but it just happend. I was so surprised, how this was good! Mattie is nice, sweet and brave teen, who has big dream about becoming escaper - and these part of book (learning, performing)... It's just so gripping, exciting that I can't even tear away from reading! Definitely recommend this one! Probably one of best books I've read in April!

Thanks to Netgallery and publisher for ARC! <3

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan is a feel-good book that will not let you down.

It has amazing characters in it. With background stories. The mean girls have depth, the depressed video gaming brother and his friends do aswell. There is so many to say about the characters, but I don't want to be the one that spoils the book. :)
And let's not forget the amazing Mattie. She reinvents herself while every muscle in her body is yelling to her to give up.
I also love love love the friendships in this book.

Erin has written in a style that feels realistic. I especially felt this while reading the escape scenes.
She has written it in a fast paced style, which I can really appreciate.

I can highly recommend this book to everyone that would like to read a feel-good book! I promise it won't let you down.

Genre: contemporary young adult
Pages: 320

Synopsis

Mattie tries to hide her passion with escapalogism from her family, friends and classmates. She has one best friend, Stella, who leaves for boarding school for the summer. Her anxiety for college applications and being completely alone for two months propells her into finding and starting her project. She's been watching videos of artists like Harry Houdini for a long time, and she goes to find Miyu, the reclusive daughter of another famous escape-artist. Her loft if full of equipment, but the training is challenging and sometimes dangerous. There's lots of locks to be picked and a submersion tank to dust off.

Mattie learns of her potential, of what she can do if she throws herself into her passion onstage, finding a community who cheer and heckle her. But then her worst fear comes true, someone she knows finds out. She imagines her new separated worlds crumbling. It helps when she realizes other teenagers are also trying to figure out themselves and carrying secrets.

My thoughts

I went into this book without expectation and it blew me away with its witty dialogue, truth on friendship and characters being passionate about their interest (which is possibly my favourite thing).

It was an entertaining read, Mattie and her friends were so well-written and I never could've imagined how real their characters or world would feel. It's a good plot, I especially liked how things in everyones life built up to each of Mattie's performances on stage. Which for the record was in true magician style with anxious assistants and a baffled crowd, where I wanted to clap for her myself in relief.

Miyu goes from being just an obvious mentor to becoming a whole human being as I learned more about her, she kind of transformed in front of my eyes in a way that facinated me. At the beginning I did not care about the small paragraphs about her mother's life, then as I realized what they were it gave the book some nice details along with giving another perspective, the story was no longer just about Mattie, but had become bigger.

I can't get past how painfully relatable Mattie's thoughts and attempts at friendships was. In books like this some big events happens that forces the introverted character to come out of her shell, but I really liked how in this book it was a choice. It was definitely started by smaller things happening, like Stella going away for the summer and trying to find out what she was passionate about before big decisions like college. But it was Mattie herself who chose to put herself out there, to go to Miyu and ask for training. The way it went down was actually inspiring, especially for someone who keeps her interests very to herself.

The official release date of this book is June 19th. I need more young adult books with the realness I've found in this book along with Maureen Johnsons "Truly Devious" and Becky Albertallis "Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda". They're all very different books plot-wise, but to me they felt very similiar in style and how relatable they were written, in a genuine way I wish more ya had. Genuine characters that could've been actual teenagers, I hope it becomes even less of an exception in young adult books.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 


*some more discussion and spoilers below this*


There's a couple of things that bothered me, and I don't know how to explain them without spoiling a few things. There's this string of events that drives the plot, mainly started by Mattie choosing to go to Miyu and get really into escapologism. And somehow it ends up with bringing them all together, which is fine, but one of the last performances leads everyone to end up with someone. Everything always works out in the rest of the book as well, in a way that took me out of it at points. Everything bad that happens I can think of, like Will being outed, turns into something that propell further actions. Also the friend group talk about being awkward people, yet everyone knows what to say in any situation, which creates a split in my perception of them.

That said, everything good in the book heavily outweighs this, and I would completely recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining young adult story about finding oneself. It seems like a perfect summer read as well.

This ended up being a relatively cute contemporary read that I worked my way through pretty quickly. The writing was good, the plot itself was very original, and the characters were well-developed. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it, and I think that’s because I didn’t feel invested enough in the story itself. At no point did I feel any concern that things wouldn’t turn out okay.

Maybe I’m just too distanced from high school now, but Mattie’s problems just… didn’t feel like real problems to me. She’s training to be an escapologist -- a death-defying badass -- but she’s terrified that people will find out and post something mean about her on LifeScape (this world’s version of Facebook). I feel like a story that focused more around her struggling through the training itself and less around her fears of exposure would have been more compelling for me.

There were actually more things (Mattie’s training aside) that didn’t feel fully fleshed out to me. Near the beginning, Mattie randomly has a nightmare about… LifeScape. This struck me as bizarre, but what struck me as more bizarre was that these (allegedly regular) nightmares didn’t come up again. Sure, her fear of being ridiculed on LifeScape came up a few more times, but it seemed more like an afterthought than anything else. I’m hoping this ends up more fully developed or pulled altogether from the finished copy.

The implication that Mattie’s secret double life and Will’s sexuality were on a similar level of potential life-destruction also made me uncomfortable. This is touched upon, but placing them side-by-side and making Mattie’s problems the main focus really felt to me like it was inadvertently minimizing the very real issue of coming out. I don’t think this was intentional by the author at all, but that was still the impact that I personally felt.

It also really caught me off guard and really upset me that Mattie is constantly disgusted by her brother’s inability to do anything when the narrative makes it clear that he is depressed and an alcoholic. To be fair, the author did note that the final copy clears up some ableist language, but I’m not sure how thoroughly this part of the plot was changed -- the implication is that Mattie thinks she can inspire her brother to pull himself together, or something? When it seems like he really needs help and everyone is just… letting him languish.

Besides that, there were a few other things that made me cringe. Mattie sleeps with her older brother’s drunken friend -- but she was 16 or 17 at the time, and he was in his mid-twenties. She also has hella “not like other girl” vibes. I think it’s fine to be different and quirky, but this treads dangerously on “I’m better than other girls because I do alternative things” territory. There are a couple other things, but mentioning them would be spoilers and I’m going to avoid that for now.

Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable read, but I worry about some of the content and hope things were cleaned up for the final copy.

3.75/5 stars
---
I really, really enjoyed reading this book. Between all of the ""serious"" literature I had to read for school the past couple of weeks, I really wanted something... Fun. This was exactly what I was looking for: unique characters, escapology and nothing too stuffy. But, that is exactly why I'm only rating the book 3.75 stars.

The setting was a little off for me. There were really weird time jumps (from the scenes where she practises her acts in Miyu's house to her first performance) without them being explained, at all. Characters were not introduced or described very well, which left them a little too flat for my taste. I also thought that the parts from the "miary" could have been given a little more context to really state them as a different storyline. And the fact that everything was only slightly off bothers me, because this could have been great ! So great ! - My favorite novel of the year, my favorite characters of the year; had Callahan used a bit more time to explain and describe things properly. I wouldn't have mind a hundred pages extra about the characters, background stories, etc.

All in all, this is a really good read. It's enjoyable, has all the #aesthetics down and the characters are really fun and unique. I really recommend it, but do keep in mind that it's not a very descriptive novel and it contains some slightly-weird time jumps. Enjoy reading!

A interesting tale using magic and escapism to discover one's true self, and the double lives people may lead. It is all about the secrets we keep and how they can reveal our truths. Secrets that are shared with select people can creating truer and deeper friendships, but can not always be a secret forever.

I absolutely adored every minute of this book. It wasn't fast paced exactly, but there was the air of mystery that added to this book. The fact that it begins with high school and the drama and expectancy to be perfect, then goes into a summer where secrets are made, told, and exposed, makes for quite the interesting read! The characters were witty, relatable, and entertaining. I particularly like Mattie's witty and often sarcastic remarks the most.

I really liked this book! The friendships are great and escapology is an interesting subject.

I thought so long about a sufficient review for this book but all what comes to my mind is ‘so so good’, ‘I love it so much’, and ‘I want to read it again!!’ Which is amazing because I don’t usually feel the need to reread things but, yeah, not good enough for a review. So, I’m gonna try something new! And maybe I’ll add more after I reread it possibly in the near future...


What this book made me FEEL??
✨like sun rays are shining on my face through really dark clouds
✨like I were dreaming
✨so so motivated to find something I LOVE and start DOING IT
✨also, motivated to open up to people
✨like, no matter what I will find my place in the world
✨so so AMAZED by the escapology!! It’s such a niche subject I’m glad this book gave me a possibility to get to LOVE it!!


What this book have that I LOVED??
✨Mattie!! She’s so complex and she pursues her goal even though she’s So Scared!! And it influenced so many people including me!!
✨Will! At first I thought he’s just another privileged boy but I ended up feeling his fears, his growth, his fears again!!
✨woman in a position of mentor!!
✨Miyu is allowed to be complex and not perfect and still be a great mentor!!
✨how the legend became human
✨nicknames!!! or rather stage names!!
✨chosen family trope
✨but also really interesting born family dynamics
✨great parallels between Mattie and Will
✨the parallels still acknowledge how different their situation are
✨no focus on love life
✨character development! They all gained so much and went a really long way throughout this story!
✨great representation of mental illnesses! I can’t say much about Miyu’s agoraphobia but Mattie’s anxiety and her brother’s depression really connected with me and I related a lot
✨coming out scenes are so well-done! I won’t say too much about it so I won’t spoil it but it was great!
✨I loved the use of diary entries and text messages!
✨the writing style!! I was turning pages so fast!!
✨I thought I’m gonna go through it just turning pages and smiling at my phone but in the end I couldn't hold it and teared up at the last pages

I really wanted to do one of those big and awesome reviews because I believe this one really deserves those big and elaborate reviews.. But my mind has been drifting sooo much, I can't even if i tried.. So it's going to be a bit short, but I do hope to get my enthousiasm for this book into this review..

Mattie is one of those super awesome and relatable main characters.. She's funny, selfconscious, loving and has this one awesome passion of hers.. She has her best friend, who is friends with people she kind of likes? I guess? But basically, she just has her best friend. Quality over quantity, right?
When her best friend goes to boarding summer school, practically leaving Mattie alone the whole summer, Mattie decides she'll have to keep herself busy before her anxiety runs out of control.. She decides to seek out Miyu; the daughter of a world-famous escape artist who, since her mothers passing, hasn't voluntarily talked to anyone or left the house..

Miyu takes Mattie (Girl Scout) under her wing and starts training her.. Picking locks, locking her up in boxes. Those kind of things. And when she's ready she performs.. And when she performs? She's a different person. She's strong and independent and she pushes through.. She doesn't let her anxiety get the best of her and the crowd loves her.

During this summer Mattie turns into this amazing escapologist and with her, she changes her friends too.. Will (with two L's) becomes a whole new person, her brother.. Her family.. Everybody. And that is awesome.

Read this book if you're looking for a feel-good story, this will not dissapoint!

Perhaps the reason that this book disappointed me so much was that I was expecting it to be wlw. But it wasn't. And instead, I got a cishet character who kept implying that keeping a secret about escapology was in any way comparable to being in the closet. But I should back up a little.

The Art of Escaping tells the story of Mattie, who is obsessed with old escapologists such as Harry Houdini and Dorothy Dietrich. Living in the same town as Mattie is Miyu, the daugther of an escapologist herself, and Mattie decides that she's going to get Miyu to teach her escapology. She also decides that this is a deep dark secret which no one must find out about. (Yeah, this bit lost me too. Because what exactly are going to be the repercussions of doing escapology? Are you going to be ostracised from your family and friends? Is anyone really going to give a monkey's? Probably not.) One night, she's performing, and sees Will, a schoolmate, in the audience. And this is the bit that annoyed me. They swap secrets in some kind of "mutually assured destruction" deal. Mattie's secret is that she does escapology. Will's secret is that he's gay. And to be blunt: these are not nearly comparable. In no way does keeping a secret about escapology measure up to keeping a secret about your sexuality. Like I said earlier, is someone finding out you do escapology possibly going to result in ostracisation, some form of abuse, or whatever else you might think of? No. It's not. So reading a book that for 81% (I counted) implied that they were comparable was a bit of a slap in the face. And I know that, yeah, she has an epiphany late on that perhaps Will's secret is a little bigger than hers, but I really didn't have the patience for it given I'd had to read almost all the book with her blandly asserting that this wasn't the case, that they were comparable.

Besides all that, there were other aspects which annoyed me. (One note: I can't work out if I was annoyed by these things because the whole "comparing escapology to being in the closet" riled me up That Much, or if these were genuinely annoying things, so. There's that.) Firstly, Mattie gives off distinct "not like other girls" vibes, despite not actually saying those words aloud, and she's fairly sanctimonious about those "other girls". Secondly, everyone in this book goddamn whines. I swear to god, every other speaking verb was whined and it made me so frustrated. If I could be bothered, I would count the number of times each character was described as having whined, but Mattie was by far the worst of them. Just please, find some synonyms or something. Or just use said. No one notices if you overuse said.

The final points are mostly surrounding Will (my favourite character, it was an absolute travesty that he only got one chapter for every four or five Mattie got). Mainly, I am so tired of having high school age gay characters in a relationship with college age characters. I know Will was 18, but he was only just 18, and an 18 year old with a 21 year old? Makes me fairly uncomfortable. I'm 21 and I wouldn't even consider 18 year olds, that's just creepy. There's also a comment that Will makes at one point about someone being "an easily identifiable member of team-QUILTBAG". Firstly, what is people's problem with avoiding LGBT as a descriptor? Why am I having to read ""QUILTBAG"" in an actual published book? Secondly, way to stereotype I guess. An "easily identifiable member". What makes them "easily identifiable"? Because unless they're wearing a gay pride flag or holding hands or something, seems to me that means there's stereotyping going on.

Finally, there's a comment that Mattie makes within the first couple of chapters, when the guidance counsellor is asking her about joining school societies.

"Gay Straight Alliance?" "I'm apolitical."

Nice to know that LGBT people's existence is still considered political in 2018, I guess.

At least Will wasn't outed for the angst though, right?

This book was provided to me via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

"It'll never be a cakewalk for weirdos like us, you know? But that doesn't mean we're not allowed to be happy."

The author of this book must have heard my desperate wishes for YA books that don't only focus on romance, because this book was exactly what I'd wished for – and it was absolutely brilliant. I loved it so much I finished it in one sitting, instead of going to sleep, and when I'd read the last word I cried a happy little tear because the book was so great. It's a story about friendship and finding yourself and your passions, and the author tells it so well.

Each and every single character was lovable in their own way – flaws and all. The friendships in this book made me tear up and I laughed out loud more often than I can count, when one of the characters said something particularly witty. In the beginning, I highlighted the parts that I particularly liked or that I found important, but I quickly gave up – there were just too many good parts to continue doing that and still have it mean anything.

This is one book that I will be buying as a hard copy when it's published, because I expect that I will want to reread it often. Yes, it's that good.

High school senior Mattie is fascinated by Houdini and the art of escaping, so when her only and best friend is gone for the summer, Mattie tracks down the agoraphobic daughter of a famous escapologist and convinces her to become her trainer. As Mattie becomes a successful performer at a quirky local club, she keeps her passion a secret, both because she knows her parents wouldn't allow it and because of what her high school classmates would think. Meanwhile, the story of Will unfolds, also revolving around a secret. A well-liked basketball jock and boyfriend of a popular girl, Will is actually gay and a serious thinker. Fortunately Mattie's and Will's stories collide, and they enable each other to deal with their secrets and anxieties. Interspersed between the Mattie and Will chapters are excerpts from the famous escapologist's diary/miary. The three different voices are well-defined, and the transitions are not at all annoying. As a matter of fact, the first person narrations are smart, funny, and thought provoking, and I found this novel refreshing and enjoyable, and much as I liked the ending I was disappointed when I finished it.

The Art of Escaping is a Young Adult novel by Erin Callahan. It tells the life of Mattie, a budding escapologist, and Will, a popular student hiding a secret. It also, in part, tells the story of Akiko and her daughter Miyu, and the struggles they’ve faced.

There are two things I am very grateful for in this book. One, there is no weird Asian fetishization, no stereotypes or awkward moments. It’s refreshing to read, as the Asian heritage is not glossed over, and race is spoken of, but I never felt that it strayed into creepy territory. Second, there is no romance in the story between the main characters. It’s honestly amazing to read a YA book that doesn’t try and set up the main female character with a random boy halfway through the story, and I am so, so, pleased that Callahan didn’t go down this route. Mattie doesn’t need a love story to be herself.

This is my personal opinion, but I don’t think the dual perspective was needed. I liked Akiko’s excerpts from the diary, but Will’s ‘footnotes’ got in the way of the main story, as it just repeated what had happened to Mattie but from a different viewpoint. I also was not interested by Will at all, and I found him really boring and pretentious at times. He was the Marlon Blando of the book.

There were some interesting subplots throughout the book, Mattie’s older brother Kyle for one. I also liked how there wasn’t a big focus on Mattie’s virginity, as normally happens in YA books. Stuff happened, and that was that. It was nice to read, as you don’t often get that casual perspective in books for teenagers.

In conclusion, The Art of Escaping is the book for you if you like escapology, teenage girls with developed personalities, and LGBT subplots. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves Young Adult novels.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for a review.