Title: Down with the Shine Author: Kate Karyus Quinn
Published: April 26, 2016
Genre(s): Magical Realism
Page Count: 355
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Lennie always thought her uncles’ “important family legacy” was good old-fashioned bootlegging. Then she takes some of her uncles’ moonshine to Michaela Gordon’s annual house party, and finds out just how wrong she was.
At the party, Lennie has everyone make a wish before drinking the shine—it’s tradition. She toasts to wishes for bat wings, for balls of steel, for the party to go on forever. Lennie even makes a wish of her own: to bring back her best friend, Dylan, who was murdered six months ago.
The next morning gives Lennie a whole new understanding of the phrase be careful what you wish for—or in her case, be careful what wishes you grant. Because all those wishes Lennie raised a jar of shine to last night? They came true. Most of them came out bad. And once granted, a wish can’t be unmade…
In terms of unique storylines and creative ideas, Kate Karyus Quinn has always been the YA author to beat. Down with the Shine is her third novel and, as was to be expected, it’s very different from anything I’ve read before.
Protagonist Lenny starts off the novel by bringing her uncles’ famous moonshine to a party. Except it turns out the moonshine was part of her family’s legacy of granting wishes, and now everyone who was at that part is dealing with some serious consequences.
Now, Down with the Shine wasn’t my favorite of Quinn’s novels. It might have been my state of mind at the time of reading, but I often found myself getting lost or confused in the story and needing to backtrack in order to make sure I got everything that happened. Again, might have just been me, but it did make for a slightly tedious reading experience overall.
For the most part, the atmosphere of the novel was surreal, focusing on the zany absurdity Lenny found herself dealing with. I think the author tried to go darker towards the end, and as that was also where I had the most difficulty, it didn’t seem to pan out. The conclusion was satisfying, but getting there was iffy.
Overall, Down with the Shine was a fun read from a author I know I can count on when it comes to the stranger side of fiction. I’d recommend new readers look at Quinn’s other novels first, but this was far from bad itself.
