The Museum of Us by Tara Wilson Redd – Review & Blog Tour

Amazon / B&N / Kobo/ BAM / Book Depository

Description:
Secrets are con artists: they trick you into letting them out.

Sadie loves her rocker boyfriend Henry and her running partner and best friend Lucie, but no one can measure up to her truest love and hero, the dazzling and passionate George. George, her secret.

When something goes wrong and Sadie is taken to the hospital calling out for George, her hidden life may be exposed. Now she must confront the truth of the past, and protect a world she is terrified to lose.

Review:

The Museum Of Us is the debut novel by Tara Wilson Redd.

Sometimes reality is too much to handle. We all find ways to escape the realities of this world. For me it’s getting lost in the pages of a book. When we are young, those of us that are bookworms, we could get completely lost in the pages of a book. Transport ourselves into the world of Hogwarts, or take an adventure with a hobbit. But as we begin to age, those moments of getting lose in those worlds are less and less.

But for Sadie, she loses herself in her daydreams.  She walks within two worlds. The real world, where she has a rocker boyfriend, Henry and best friend Lucie who love and support everything that she does. They are and will always be there for her.  But then there is the other world that Sadie gets lost in.  Lost within her own mind and self.  But this world does not compare to the real world. This world contains George. George is her hero, her best friend, her true love.  They have walked a hundred worlds and lost themselves in the pages of hundreds of books.  But George isn’t real.  He is only real within Sadie’s mind.

Which is why she has kept him a complete secret from the real world and all who love and support her.  But that all changes when Sadie is in a car accident and rushed to the emergency room.  While in the midst of the chaos she screams for George. Desperate to know where he is. This signals the doctors that something else is going on – more than meets the eye.  Sadie then spends some time in the hospital and then a psychiatric ward, trying to determine what is real and what isn’t.

She can’t lose George, he has always been there for her and she does not want to live her life without him. When her two worlds threaten to collide will Sadie be able to face the reality of a world without George? Will she be able to continue without him?

I am going to be honest the beginning of this book completely confused me, I was lost in the chaos and confusion of what is Sadie’s world and why it is that way.  The story unfurls into a wondrous mental health expose.  I love the worlds that George and Sadie travel to. Hogwarts, Amsterdam – all of the worlds were so beautifully written and the picture they painted was spot on. The writing drags you in and doesn’t let you go.  After finishing the book I believe the confusion of Sadie’s world in the beginning only enriches the story as it develops and also shows a glimpse into what mental illness is truly like.

This story may cause triggers for some but for the most part I believe it could only enrich others as they experience what the life of someone with a mental illness might be like.

In the end Sadie must decide if she can move forward without George and the world she has created or continue on with her fantasies and daydreams.

I would absolutely recommend this book, with a side note that it does involve mental health and mental health issues.

Reviewed by Erin

Copy provided by Publisher

TARA WILSON REDD, a graduate of Reed College, grew up all over the United States, including in St. Louis, Seattle, and Central Oregon. An impenitent dilettante, she is interested in everything, but especially language, travel, and animals. When she is home from her adventures, she lives in Washington, DC, where she works in libraries. The Museum of Us is her first novel. Visit her online at tarawilsonredd.com