“This tense wire of a novel thrums with suspense. . . . [this book] just might be the highlight of your summer.”–The New York TimesCheryl Strayed’s Wild meets The Revenant in this heart-pounding story of survival and revenge in the unforgiving wilderness.After: Jess is alone. Her cabin has burned to the ground. She knows if she doesn’t act fast, the cold will kill her before she has time to worry … act fast, the cold will kill her before she has time to worry about food. But she is still alive—for now.
Before: Jess hadn’t seen her survivalist, off-the-grid dad in over a decade. But after a car crash killed her mother and left her injured, she was forced to move to his cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness. Just as Jess was beginning to get to know him, a secret from his past paid them a visit, leaving her father dead and Jess stranded.
After: With only her father’s dog for company, Jess must forage and hunt for food, build shelter, and keep herself warm. Some days it feels like the wild is out to destroy her, but she’s stronger than she ever imagined.
Jess will survive. She has to. She knows who killed her father…and she wants revenge.
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In ‘I Am Still Alive’, Kate Alice Marshall gives us a solid, exciting, & bold survivalist read.This tale is reminiscent of- or maybe more easily explained as, similar to a modern ‘Hatchet’ by Gary Paulsen, in which the author even gives a shout out to. Some other tales I found myself remembering while reading this one are: ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’. I can see some resembling undertones of all three of those amazing novels, while ‘I am Still Alive’ does hold it’s own on being it’s own unique read. The fact that the main character Jess tells her story in short chapters of before, after, & seasonal parts makes this tale super fast paced, and compulsively readable. A good book makes you think and feel and care…. If your still thinking about it later, days after reading the last words on the pages…..thats a great book!
It was riveting, but heart rending also.
I Am Still Alive is a survival story that begins in a non-linear fashion before transitioning to traditional linear storytelling. It follows Jess, stranded in the backwoods of Canada with winter fast approaching. She is alone, with only a dog as her companion and disabilities she must overcome.
The non-linear opening makes for an excellent entryway into the story because it gives the reader a sense of the world the character is in, while hinting at what happened without giving anything away. It allows the tension to flourish as it goes between the past and the present to establish how Jess got stranded in the unforgiving wilderness. It allows the reader to understand what the character is experiencing, how she is experiencing it while allowing the reader to get a handle on the direction of the story.
Jess is not an entirely likable character. It is easy for the reader to understand her anger considering her life has gone through profound changes (i.e., losing her mom, becoming an amputee, moving to the remote wilderness with the father she has never known). However, while understandable, the tone and narrative still do not make it easy to empathize with her. Jess’s whining and complaining fills most of the story, and her hard-headed stupid mistakes make the story irritating to read.
Thankfully there is character development, but it takes a while, making it a struggle to capture the reader’s attention, especially given the slow pace of the novel. While also a survival story, the story is a revenge story, so the reader is waiting for something to happen, making the slow pace of the novel unbearable given the character’s voice.
Ultimately, I Am Still Alive is a noteworthy novel. It does suffer from poor characterization and a slow pace, but in the end, it makes up for it.
Jess Cooper is a girl who is recovering from a horrific car crash in which she loses her mother. She also is considered disabled because of the damage she sustained not just from the initial crash but the fire that followed.
Now, rather than living in a foster home, she goes to live with her father whom she hasn’t seen since she’s a young girl. Thinking she’s going to live in Canada, the plane takes her to an extremely remote location where there are no neighbors. Her father lives off the land and so Jess must learn to survive that way too, except she’s so mad at her father for abandoning her, she is pushing back and not really paying attention.
Which she sorely wishes she had when the sketchy men her father was dealing with shoot him and burn down the hand-built cabin they live in. Now she must learn to live in the harsh climate if she wants to survive. Having only her father’s dog as a companion, things are sure to be hard.
This was a great story, it reminded me a bit of My Side of the Mountain except Jess has the worst luck, nothing goes right. The author did a great job portraying what life would be like and wrote great characters, it’s a very good storyline. Loved this book.
I tore through Kate Alice Marshall’s I Am Still Alive in two days—and while I rarely read books in one sitting, I wouldn’t have put this one down at all if pesky work and social plans hadn’t gotten in the way!
It’s just that riveting.
When Jess is dropped off at her new home—a cabin in the Canadian wilderness with the father she barely knows—she thinks adjusting to the lack of company and sidewalks is going to be her greatest challenge. (Severely injured in the car crash that claimed her mother’s life, Jess should be working with a physical therapist, not struggling to keep up with her survivalist father in the remote, wild terrain.)
But that’s just the beginning of Jess’s troubles. A week into her new life, Jess’s father is murdered and their cabin is burned to the ground by some very-real ghosts from his past. And Jess is left totally stranded with one can of salmon, one can of peaches, no shelter, and only her dad’s dog Bo for company.
As you can imagine, things get rough from there.
Marshall masterfully balances nuanced detail about Jess’s experience vying to survive in the wild with gripping, page-turning tension. This is an absolute must-read for fans of young adult thrillers and survival adventures. Jess gives a whole new meaning to the term “strong female protagonist.”