A Map of the Know World

A Map of the Known World
Author: Lisa Ann Sandell
Pages: 273
Publication Date: April 15 2009





Summary:
Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things-I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life's ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There's so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.




Review:

Why did I wait so long to read this, It was one of the most emotional and beautiful books I have read in a long time!

Cora is struggling with her brother’s death, her family is torn apart, ever since Nate died no one has been the same, her parents want her home immediately after school, she’s not allowed to do much. Her parents keep a very short leash on her so to speak.

Nate was a bad boy, he liked to go against anything he was told. He skipped school, disobeyed his parents, messed up his life, then one night he got a call from his girlfriend, they’ve been going out for a year and all of a sudden she calls him and breaks up him. Nate is very angry and picks up his best friend Damian, he then drives crazy fast and turns off his headlights, he then proceeds to drive faster, the car slips on a patch of ice and he goes through the guardrail and hits a tree, while his best friend comes out with scrapes and bruises.

Cora is an outcast at school, her best friend Rachel has changed over the summer, and all of a sudden she wants a boyfriend and wants to hang out with the popular girls who they used to make fun of. Instantly she leaves Cora and she is left alone. Cora then comes in contact with Damian. She is mad at him and hates him for being in the car with her brother when he died.

After awhile Cora warms up to Damian and he shows her what he and Nate used to do. He drove Cora to an old barn and showed her all the art that he and Nate did. Nate never showed anyone his talent in the art department, the only one her knew was Damian and his girlfriend Julie.

Cora was also born with the talent of being a great artist. Her talent is creating maps. She takes one of Nate’s unfinished projects and starts working on a map of memories of him and her when he was younger and they used to be really close.

A Map of the Know World was such an emotional book and I cried so many times during this book. I love Lisa’s writing. It’s so poetic and beautiful. Cora and Damian’s relationship gets deeper. The characters really develops in this book, A Map of the Know World may seem like a light read but its hidden with so many emotions, Anger, Sadness, despair, forgiveness and happiness. I loved seeing this book grow each page.

5/5 stars