This is the first book in the Parallel Trilogy. What if everything you knew was suddenly gone? Sixteen-year-old Morgan Campbell runs away from home and when she returns the next day her world is turned upside-down. Not only is her family missing, but another family is living in her house and claims to have lived there for weeks. As Morgan desperately works to figure out what has happened, she finds society has become obsessed with weight in a way she has never seen before. The more she searches for answers, the more she begins to wonder if she has somehow ended up in another world--a world where it is illegal to be overweight. Can she survive in this world until she can get home? Gone does not contain any profanity or sexual content and is appropriate for all ages.
Who knew an act of defiance could turn your entire world upside-down? Morgan Campbell runs away from home in protest of the unfairness her mother imposes upon her. Morgan can’t seem to do anything right and finds herself in trouble at every turn. But running away brings one problem after the next. She spends the night in a run-down, abandoned cabin in the woods, and when she tries to find her way back home again the next day, she is in for a nasty surprise.
Her family doesn’t live in the house they did yesterday. For all she tries, Morgan can’t figure out what has happened. The world she fell asleep in is gone, and she has woken up in one where it is illegal to be overweight, and the government tracks everyone, punishing those who do not stay within their weight goals. Somehow, Morgan has found herself in a parallel universe, and must adapt quickly, or else she might find herself at a F.A.T. centre.
Morgan is the kind of character you are not sure whether or not you like to begin with. She is rude to her mother and runs away basically because her mother wouldn’t allow her to get a new phone. She seems a little stuck up and acts as if everyone should listen to her, and she should be allowed to do whatever she wants. After losing everything she was familiar with, though, Morgan starts to become a much more likeable person. She appreciates the things her family can afford, and starts to spend more time with her siblings and do things around the house to help her mother out. Trying to hand out baked goods with an illegal amount of calories in them at school is obviously just her deviance rearing its head. There is not too much time spent with any of the characters for me to really get to know them, other than Morgan, but I did end up liking her, and rooting for her to either manage to get home or adapt quickly enough to survive in the new world she found herself in.
I can’t imagine what struggles and fears Morgan must face during this book, as she finds out things she saw as normal are now illegal, and that she must abide by the rules or else face being dragged away from her family. The loss of control comes across very clearly in this book, especially since the weight restrictions are not just guidelines, but laws, and it is hard to afford, or find, simple foods such as sugar. I love the idea that, while Morgan is struggling to follow all the new rules that have been thrust upon her, there is another Morgan, thrown into the ‘normal’ world. I would love to know what that Morgan was getting up to throughout this book. Was she relishing in the freedom, and eating what she wanted, or was she sticking to her harsh diet and exercise routines to keep the weight off?
This book does, unfortunately, fall into the category of books that I downloaded for free, not realising they were part of a series and would have a massive cliffhanger at the end to make you want to buy the next book in the series. I don’t particularly like it when books do this, I like being able to read a book and feel satisfied with the ending. If you’re not planning on buying the whole series, then this book probably isn’t the one to choose. There are some chapters from book 2 at the end, so you are not left right in the middle of a scene, but I wish there had been a more definite conclusion.
I have read this book twice now, the first time I read it was several years ago, but I remembered it being a good story, and so I reread it. My memory serves me well, I read the whole thing in one sitting. This is the kind of book that is easy to read, if not slightly predictable, that is perfect to read if you’re trying to crawl out of a reading slump. It is an easygoing book, and it is not difficult to immerse yourself alongside the characters. I am glad I came back to re-read this book. Although the plot definitely isn’t lighthearted, it is an easy book to read, and I enjoyed reading it.
Christine Kersey is an author of sweet contemporary romance as well as suspense, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian novels. She has her own eReader and is not embarrassed to admit that she is a book hoarder. One of Christine's favorite activities is to go camping with her family and read, read, read while enjoying the beauty of nature.
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