So, I was able to read this book because of a “Read Now” promotion happening on NetGalley. I read its description, loved the cover, and heard that it was written similar to many literary classics. I was definitely intrigued, to say the least, and I’m going to share and review my thoughts on Dust and all of its nuances. 

The first thing I want to mention is the writing style. With Thea being half deaf, she misses a lot of words in conversations. This is written in a way where random words in the sentences were replaced with ____. This made sense to me as a reader, but it took a long time for me to adjust and I often found myself trying to fill in the blanks before moving on with reading (in a way, it almost made me feel Thea’s experience). I thought that was pretty cool overall, but another style thing is that it is most definitely written in a way that makes it seem like a literary classic. There’s a lot of ruminating. There’s a lot of descriptions and imagery and the story sometimes falls to the background in favor of comparing the dust to some monster. It did throw me off at times, but this is definitely the style needed for this type of book. 

With the plot, I often found myself wondering where in the heck this novel was trying to lead me. There is no clear path if I’m being completely honest (and that’s okay, it’s just not my favorite). The description of the book made me think that Thea would be spending more time actually learning sign and falling in love. Learning sign maybe took up 5% of the book if that. The romance was okay, but it did seem to happen suddenly in my opinion. One moment they were talking and the next it was like BAM, now we’re together. Most of this novel (plot wise, anyway) had to do with the struggle of farming in Colorado and trying to do everything by yourself. Thea’s dad was a “I don’t need anyone’s help” type of guy and it was so annoying. He was isolating his family just for the fact that he wanted to go back to old times and be self sufficient. Even those people who were self sufficient still had community, and it made me livid that he was isolating his family.

Character-wise, literally every character was developed and felt real. They all had purpose. They all had quirks. They all felt like human beings and not side characters in a novel. I was very very happy with that and it made the book that much more colorful. 

One of the only things I’m pretty unhappy with is the fact that the book wrapped up in a nice little bow. The ending felt too idyllic to be real and I think it needed to have just a little bit of tragedy in it for all of its deep subject matter. That was the one thing that really pulled me out of the story and made me go “all right, I’m definitely reading fiction.”

Overall, though, Dust was poignant and beautiful in its writing and descriptions. The characters were full and developed. The plot, while lacking direction, still had a lot going for it. I could definitely see this novel being add to an English classroom to get analyzed and read by its students. All-in-all, a good read and an eye-opener for anyone who has never lived in the desert. 4/5 stars and a huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Source: Advanced Reader Copy on NetGalley

(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)