Name: The Arsonist
ISBN: 9780803740716

Stephanie Oakes

Molly Mavity and Pepper Yusef are dealing with their own personal tragedies when they are tasked by an anonymous person with solving the decades-old murder of Ava Dryman, an East German teenager whose diary was published after her death.

The Arsonist

Emily

I am thinking about the first words of another book. 
It was a pleasure to burn.
More than anything, it was a pleasure to live. 

I am utterly SHOCKED that no one talks about this book!!! Please, please go out and read it! It's one of the most unique YA books I've ever read, and I mean this in every possible way. 

First of all, it is not at all what I was expecting it to be. I typically don't read very much of the synopses of thrillers because I don't want to spoil myself, so my expectations going into this book were purely based on the cover. I thought it was going to be a standard contemporary YA thriller about an arsonist. I couldn't be more wrong.

Not only is this book actually historical fiction for much of it, but it definitely has a much heavier focus on the characters than I was expecting. Don't get me wrong though, the plot is still incredibly engaging; I couldn't stop reading.

However, the characters here are what really sold it to me. There are three POVs in this book, and they come from some of the most unique perspectives I've ever read from. Not only are they so unique, but they are so well executed. I was not once confused by which perspective I was reading from, that's how consistent each voice was.

1. Molly- She is the weird girl at school. No, not the type A "I'm not like other girls" protagonist, I mean the weird girl. Like, she's called "Molly Milk Pee Mavity" for purposely peeing in the middle of the classroom in 7th grade. She is the girl with no friends. Legitimately zero. It was so interesting to get to see what goes on inside her head and why she acts the way she does. What troubles her, what she yearns for, what she doesn't understand- all of it. 

2. Pepper- A boy from Kuwait who is officially not going to graduate. Again, this is another character that I never expected to read from. His voice was also incredibly well-done, from minor slips of English proficiency, to the control of his chapters. They were written in essay form, each with a central theme, and they each tied into his account of the story seamlessly. 

3. Ava- A girl trapped in East Berlin under the GDR and Stasi regime during the Cold War. To me, Ava was the most compelling character because through her account, a resilient and unbreakable woman was unveiled. 

I could go on and on about how having unique structure for each POV enhanced the reading experience just as much as each unique voice, but I think that at this point you should just read the book for yourself to experience it. 

Oddly enough, this book also had a lot of relevance to stuff going on in the world today. It touches on themes of rebellion and doing what it takes to cause a regime to crumble. Despite being written in 2017, and being about a completely different country, its commentary completely echoes the arguments that many are making surrounding the police in America today.

I haven't really touched the plot yet, but that's because that too is something you should just dive into on your own. This book is a whirlwind of so much that I love in literature, and I am still amazed that I found it in a book that has been sitting on my shelf for years, never having been opened. 

I'm so glad that I gave this random book a try, and it really reminds me that every book has the power to surprise you. 

Seriously, give this one a try. For Ava Dreyman (even if you don't know her quite yet).

Tiffany Engler

I don't know why I liked this book as much as I did. I was reading through some of the reviews on Goodreads and it seems nobody enjoyed this book. This book seemed to be all over the place all at once. Who lets their children do this kind of stuff? I feel like this book is very juvenile. I still liked it. A lot. 

Why?

I can't tell you, to be honest. I was hooked from page one and couldn't stop reading it. I was extremely interested to see where this story was going to go. Even though this is a story that seems like it could never happen. If it does, I wanna know what's going on with their damn parents. Why do they never check up on the kids?

I was very interested in Ava's story the most. She was the character that was in Berlin during the time they had the Berlin Wall. There's history in this book! German history is my favorite thing to learn about. The Berlin Wall is an insane part of history and it's a big part in this book. 

I was constantly trying to figure out who killed Ava and wasn't really thinking about anything else. That twist at the end really made me stop and think about things. 

I didn't feel a strong connection with Molly or Pepper. Actually, they were both pretty annoying. I just like the fact that Pepper's pug sounds like the cutest, laziest service dog ever.

3.75/5 Stars

Code Name Verity meets I Am the Messenger in this riveting YA novel from Morris Award finalist Stephanie Oakes, in which three points of view are woven together in a story that's part Cold War mystery, part contemporary coming-of-age, and completely unputdownable. Molly Mavity is not a normal teenage girl. For one thing, her father is a convicted murderer, and his execution date is fast approaching. For another, Molly refuses to believe that her mother is dead, and she waits for the day when they’ll be reunited . . . despite all evidence that this will never happen. Pepper Al-Yusef is not your average teenage boy. A Kuwaiti immigrant with epilepsy, serious girl problems, and the most useless seizure dog in existence, he has to write a series of essays over the summer . . . or fail out of school. And Ava Dreyman—the brave and beautiful East German resistance fighter whose murder at seventeen led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall—is unlike anyone you’ve met before. When Molly gets a package leading her to Pepper, they’re tasked with solving a decades-old mystery: find out who killed Ava, back in 1989. Using Ava’s diary for clues, Molly and Pepper realize there’s more to her life—and death—than meets the eye. Someone is lying to them. And someone out there is guiding them along, desperate for answers. At turns heart-racing, hilarious, and heartbreaking, The Arsonist is an intricate tapestry—of love, loss, and the mysterious connections between us all.

The Arsonist

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