Review: What We Buried by Kate A. Boorman

 

Siblings Liv and Jory Brewer have grown up resenting one another. Liv—former pageant queen and reality-TV star—was groomed for a life in the spotlight, while her older brother Jory, born with a partial facial paralysis, was left in the shadows. The only thing they have in common is contempt for their parents.

Now Liv is suing her mom and dad for emancipation, and Jory views the whole thing as yet another attention-getting spectacle. But on the day of the hearing, their parents mysteriously vanish, and the siblings are forced to work together. Liv feels certain she knows where they are and suspects that Jory knows more than he’s telling . . . which is true.

What starts as a simple overnight road trip soon takes a turn for the dangerous and surreal. And as the duo speeds through the deserts of Nevada, brother and sister will unearth deep family secrets that force them to relive their pasts as they try to retain a grip on the present. ~ Goodreads

Source: Received arc in exchange for an honest review (an embarrassingly long time ago 😭 apologies)

Review: How to discuss this mind fuck-ery plot without spoiling....

Liv was raised to be a pageant queen by her star chasing mom - which led to reality show fame, straining Liv's relationship with her older brother, Jory, and eventually leading Liv to sue her parents for emancipation.

On the morning of the emancipation verdict, Liv nervously awaits with her friends (fellow pageant girls who live in similar situations and have a lot at stake with the verdict) and lawyer at the courthouse, while her brother Jory and their parents are reluctantly showing up for the spectacle. 

In the blink of an eye, Liv and Jory's parents both vanish while walking to the courthouse. Like poof! Gone.

Liv gets it stuck in her head that she knows where her parents are and they're just hiding to screw up her court case and Jory is in on it. 

Is Jory in on it? Are the parents dead? Is it Liv who orchestrated everything? Something even weirder? This is just the beginning of a road trip from hell as Liv drags Jory through the desert and to the family lake house in the woods. Yeah, that never goes wrong.  

Despite the mystery element of the disappearing parents, this is very much a relationship story. Except, instead of romance, it's about 2 siblings finding their way back to each other in order to move on. 

It's very rare to find a non-romance YA, never mind a fully developed story about two siblings. Told in alternating POV's between Liv and Jory, the reader learns how their shared memories of various events drove a wedge between them but weren't always accurate. 

Liv was driven harder and harder to become the perfect beauty queen and the trauma she went through had her acting out more and more which was (mis)interpreted as diva like tendencies and temper tantrums.

Jory, who has Moebius Syndrome which leads to partial facial paralysis, was misunderstood verbally and frequently bullied. He had idolized his sister and it stung when she seemed to be embarrassed by him and brushed him off when around her beauty queen pals and mother. HE retreated into himself and comes off as a brooding ass most of the time.

But NOTHING is as it appears in this book. They form an uneasy alliance and begin to mend their relationship again while on the hunt for the parents. 

The drive is anything from average though. Without spoiling, I will say it's very eerie, dangerous and maybe cathartic.

This is not the book for people who like their endings wrapped in a neat little bow or dislike unreliable narrators. This would be me lol - yet, I liked it! 

I think what I loved most about this one, despite it not being my usual read, is how the author kept tripping me up but never used it as a red herring or as a way to trick the reader. She used the style to present a multitude of possibilities that lead to a deeper introspection about life, the power of  forgiveness and overcoming trauma.

Overall: Different but in a good way. Very original, mind-bendy, character driven but not neat and tidy if you need that in your books.