Nobody But Us

Author: Kristin Halbrook
Publisher: HarperTeen
Released: January 29, 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary
Series: No
Source: Library

Will and Zoe are on the run. They're running from everything that's happened to them, all their whole crappy lives. Will wants to save Zoe from her abusive father, Zoe wants to save Will from his hidden demons and fear of abandonment. They have a plan. They're going to start a new life. But the rest of the world refuses to see it that way.

 Nobody But Us creates a world within itself, a world that only Zoe and Will inhabit - nobody but them. The two of them seem to be cocooned in their own fantasy to the point that they seem almost surprised when they come into contact with outside people. And I guess that's what makes them so doomed - every interaction with other people (well, almost every interaction) is based on the way they just don't know how to relate to people, and their reactions get them into more and more trouble.

The way the chapters alternate between Zoe's and Will's points of view adds to this illusion of separateness. I love how their narratives all pick up where the other one left off. It gives the impression that every moment is precious, that Will and Zoe are making every second count. It's amazing how each event, no matter how small, is so significant to the story that even though every second is narrated, I never felt slowed down by it. It just means that I was fully immersed in Will and Zoe's worlds.

This is a great book, if somewhat depressing, looking at things like what true love really looks like, how desperate teenagers could be, especially in these situations, and how one wrong choice, even for the right reasons, can lead to horrible consequences.