The Art of Escaping

Seventeen-year-old Mattie is a lover of many things: jazz music, history, Star Trek, and famous escape artists. Her mom has been criticizing her for spending her life consuming those things she loves instead of creating something, and when her best friend goes away for the summer Mattie finally has a chance to change that. After finding the reclusive daughter of a famous escape artist, Miyu, Mattie manages to convince Miyu to mentor her and help her learn escapeology. As she starts to perform at a local club, things seem to be going incredibly, but a chance appearance by a popular athlete from her school threatens to shine the spotlight on Mattie's secret life. When Will shares a secret of his own, a new friendship is born. Can this continue when her best friend comes back to town, or will everything be different now?

I found myself enjoying this book an incredible amount, even though I had a feeling I knew where it was going. The "teenager with a secret" plot has been done so many times, I tried to prepare myself for the giant explosion as everyone's secrets came to life and wrecked everything else in the book. I hoped that it would not take away the enjoyment I had experienced so far. Amazingly, this was not the case in "The Art of Escaping." The focus stayed on the characters and their lives, and it was much better for it. This book was an amazing ride, and well worth a read for any fans of the genre.

“But I didn’t have to, because Mattie made it okay. More than okay, because that’s the magic of Mattie. She resides at that strange little way station between stark reality and larger than life fantasy. She wants so much more than just-the-facts-ma'am. She lives for those miraculous moments when you stumble upon something that’s somehow truer than the truth.”

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Amberjack Publishing. I requested this book based on a recommendation from Roberta at Offbeat YA, who had a chance to beta read it. Check out her blog for a post talking about that experience or her exclusive cover reveal!

When Mattie is faced with a summer without her best friend, she screws up her courage to ask the cantankerous, reclusive daughter of renowned escapologist, Akiko Miyake, to be her mentor. Soon, Mattie is immersed in a world of lock picking and underwater escape tanks, but her braver alter-ego is threatened when Will, a popular basketball player from school, witnesses one of her escapes. Worried that he’ll tell everyone, including her parents, about her strange hobby, Mattie and Will strike up an uneasy friendship based on mutual secrecy and learn that sometimes, our secret selves are the truest ones of all.

This is contemporary YA very well done. Callahan is a solid story-teller, and the novel is well-written and well-paced with a cast of interesting, believable characters (and some LGBTQ representation). Most of the tension in the novel is self-inflicted from Mattie’s insistence on keeping her new life a secret, but I enjoy plots that don’t take drama to extreme heights. Mattie and Will feel like people I could have known in high school, and their problems deal mainly with acceptance–self and otherwise.

One of the major themes is authenticity, and that’s a great angle to explore in YA fiction. Mattie is frequently preoccupied by this question: how to be a real person in a world where teenagers are expected to do extracurricular activities just to pad their resumes. It’s the Holden Caufield question approach on a much less obnoxious level (I can hardly stand The Catcher in the Rye, even while acknowledging its merits). I remember being very concerned about this in high school, and it makes Mattie easy to relate to.

She’s so middle-ground that it’s refreshing. Mattie isn’t the best student or the worst, but she has a few things that she really loves. Will’s chapters were a little more trying for me. I understand his love for twenties slang, but it’s distracting in the way it litters his narrative. I don’t know if this is a thing that actually bothers teenagers, or if I’m just an old woman stuck in a younger person’s body, but it tries too hard to sound hip. That aside, I like Will, and I like his friendship arc with Mattie even more. I also enjoy the resistance toward mean high school girl cliches; even the minor characters feel well-rounded, and there are no flatly wicked pretty girls trying to ruin everyone’s lives.

There’s barely a hint of romance throughout the whole novel because the characters are distracted by much bigger questions than “does that person like me.” Mattie and Will’s friendship, and their secrets, provide them an outlet for testing out new, better, and more authentic selves, and it’s a fascinating and well-drawn process. They give each other the space to become who they really are. Having the courage to be yourself is a major part of growing up, and Callahan’s portrayal is realistic, sometimes funny, and often heart-warming. Plus, who doesn’t love a good escape act? I’d absolutely recommend it for fans of the genre, and I’m going to need a physical copy for my library when it’s published.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

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 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!

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.