Review: Wild Awake

Kiri’s parents leave their responsible, focussed daughter home alone for six weeks while they travel the world on a dream holiday. Kiri Bird is a regular 17 year old with dreams and passions. She is focussed on her goal to be a concert pianist. She doesn’t think about her dead older sister, Sukey, or anything that could interfere with her plans until… the phone rings.

A stranger says he has Sukey’s stuff. Kiri gets on her bike and tries to find him. So begins a truly unexpected ride into an unknown that could be just down the road or in a nearby suburb. The door to homelessness and other people’s struggle to survive await Kiri’s discovery as well as a whole lot more.

Everything Kiri thought was true about her sister seems to unravel and Kiri spirals, the further she ventures. I wasn’t ready for the depth of her emotions or the lack of logic in her choice making, but I couldn’t let Kiri travel without me.

It’s hard to come up for breath in Wild Awake. I felt I had to keep pushing with Kiri, to get through whatever it was that she had to get through. She reminded me of several people I know and of no one. And as for Skunk: I was at my wit’s end to work him out. His story was as powerful as Kiri’s, but in a different way.

Title: Wild Awake
Author: Hilary T. Smith (also known as Intern)
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont, $19.95 RRP
Publication Date: 1 November 2013
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781742977706
Ages: 13+
Type: Young Adult