Tilt

"Is this life? The thing we were all seeking since those afternoons after school, when we saw Friends on TV and dreamed that one day we would be all grown up and get coffee with friends and hang out on a couch in an apartment." Tilt is set over the course of one-day after a massive Earthquake hits Portland when 9-months pregnant Annie is trying to buy a crib at IKEA. The story is told with Annie recounting the past 9 months and present day to her unborn baby, addressing them as "Bean". Annie is witty and cynical. She was so relatable about marriage, being a woman in her 30s navigating finances, motherhood, her career, and dreams of being a playwright. It was nail-biting but some-what comical reading her navigating the destruction of the city trying to make her way back to her husband, Dom. "He's going to be alive, because if he's not, I'll kill him." When you're reading a book, and you come to the conclusion or understanding of why the cover-art is the way it is, is one of the best parts of reading, and this cover's reasoning had me sobbing. That was my absolute favorite part, and more important than the earthquake to me. I thought the ending was just what the story needed, leaving some unanswered questions up to interpretation. This story is beautiful, poignant, and makes a huge impact for a 240 page book. What a killer debut novel!