Unraveling

Sunrise is at 7:34, sunset will be at 5:13

There is something elemental about getting up before most other people, cleansing. My eyes were tired, my brain was wide awake.

I got up long before D's alarm went off at 4:45 (that's a.m.) - just couldn't sleep for the I Could Walk 500 Miles refrain cycling over and over in my head. I've cleaned the meat off a chicken carcass, made (and drank most of) a pot of coffee, made lunch for D., made the bed, folded and put away my clothes, fed the cat, put out the recycle and garbage, got dressed, took D. to work...all before 6:30.

The drive downtown and then back home was gorgeous. I love the stream of headlights into the city, a beautiful ribbon of light in the clear air of this morning, and coming over the hill to Rainier Avenue from Boren is the broad southern vista of the Rainier valley, lights twinkling as people start to get up and out. The sun was coming up and the mountains were silhouetted against the transparent indigo of the lightening sky. Stars everywhere! And now the Olympics are pink, the fog is violet, and the sky is going to be clear. Seagulls, little popcorn birds, it's noisy out here.

The sun is up, orange light bouncing off the windows of the houses facing east and the day feels kind of common now that everyone is up...it's a Friday like the others (except for the clear and warming up part).

I was up late last night finishing Unraveling, by Elizabeth Norris. Janelle is going into her junior year, she has a popular boyfriend, a great family (except for her mom's bipolar disorder which seems to be getting worse), and a best friend named Alex.

Everything is great until she's hit by a truck while walking home. Her brain is shutting down and her life is flashing by when she is ripped back to sensation and vision and sees one of the stoner kids from her school standing over her. She is certain he saved her life but he won't admit it and there's nothing to prove that anything was ever broken or that she actually died.

Janelle's never really noticed Ben before, just that he was a part of a small group of loners and stoners, but now can't stop thinking about his role in her world, especially, since she met him, her life as she knows it is ending.

While sneaking into her father's FBI files to find out about her accident, she finds connections to her case and a count down clock, some sort of weapon, radiation poisonings and these connections may be leading back to Ben.

Fun, funny, great dialogue, interesting discussion about parallel universes and physics. It's got good drama, good romance, smooching, and great friendships. I really want to have the loose strings tied up but that wouldn't happen in real life; I'm not holding out any hope that there will be a sequel but I'd love to see what happens next. Age 13 and up. (Harper and Collins. $17.99. Available April, 2012.)