Sadie by Courtney Summers is her best book so far. I mean, I love all of her books and how complicated and messy the main characters are. She really takes these big leaps in her books – like with This Is Not A Test. So, I seriously could not wait to see how Summers’ writing abilities would be stretched with Sadie. This book, FYI, totally delivered on my expectations and then some.
Sadie follows the story of a young woman named, you guessed it, Sadie. She has grown up in a trailer park and lived in a trailer with her sister Mattie, who was 13. Their mother who happens to be addicted to drugs ran out on them. Saide then raises Mattie on her own. She’s okay with this, though, because Mattie is her everything. Only, one day, Mattie disappears. According to witnesses, she got into a truck and just left. Her body is found close to disappearance, burning in a fire. At this point, Sadie disappears. This is the catalyst for a podcast called The Girls hosted by this man, West McCray. And here’s where the creativity and narrative come into play. The book alternates between being told by Sadie and podcast episodes.
I don’t know if we were supposed to like Sadie as a main character or not. Personally, I tend to gravitate towards characters who are rough around the edges, so I liked her. She’s got a stutter and this plays quite the role in the book. Her upbringing wasn’t the best (the mother in me is horrified at the fact that she had Mountain Dew in her bottle as a baby).
Yet, she has this love that is so fierce for her little sister. That is something to me that is so endearing about Sadie as a character. Also, she grows up poor – which yes, please more books aimed at youths with poor people as main characters. I think teens who are poor deserve to see themselves reflected in books. ALSO, I love love love that Sadie is tough as nails and when it gets down to it, she’s going to defend herself.
I mention in my instagram post about this book how layered it is. THAT IS A FACT. So, there’s parts where Sadie’s past and the trauma she has experienced comes right at you. At first, I didn’t quite get what was going on — but then, it was like WOW so that happened. Then we see how all these little things are connected and while my stomach was revolted (who isn’t revolted by childhood trauma), I was hugely impressed at how this story was woven.
In regards to the podcast aspect of Sadie, I don’t listen to podcasts as much as I should — maybe once I get through all the books in my Hoopla, Libby, Overdrive, and Audible queue, I will get to them. However, this made me really want to give more true crime podcasts a chance. Like, my husband listens to one about Creepy John I think it was? I don’t know, we had to listen to it while driving around house hunting? Anyways.
From what I understand, there’s a podcast out that is based on this book. I think that is such a cool tie in thing to do. If I didn’t have a million and one audiobooks, I’d be inclined to listen. Regardless, the podcast part of the book is very well done and kept me drawn in. Ultimately, this book is quite the read and you NEED to get your hands on it right this minute.
Other reviews of Sadie by Courtney Summers:
- The Young Folks – “definitely does not hold back“
- Quite The Novel Idea – “hands down, one of my top reads“
- YA Love – “compulsively readable“
Purchase or Preview Sadie:
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So glad to hear you weren’t disappointed in this! I read it in July, and it blew me away. Then I started seeing everyone’s reviews and the hype started to build. And I’m always afraid the hype will leave people disappointed…
This book is so powerful and incredible. Like you said, I’m glad to see representation of poor teenagers! And of people with a speech impairment. I don’t think I’ve read many books about main characters who have a stutter.
Love your review!
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Hi April, very nice blog! The book review you have shared is amazing. I also like to read books, it inspires me. Thanks for sharing.
Stunning review April 😀 SO glad you loved this book so much, eee. I also loved Sadie the most. <3 Adore Courtney, and all her books are so good. But yeah. This one was perfect 🙂 But so painful too.