Review: Chopsticks

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral

Release Date ~ February 2, 2012
Razorbill ~ Penguin
ISBN13: 9781595144355
Finished copy received at Raz0rbill Canada Launch Party
Goodreads Synopsis:
After her mother died, Glory retreated into herself and her music. Her single father raised her as a piano prodigy, with a rigid schedule and the goal of playing sold-out shows across the globe. Now, as a teenager, Glory has disappeared. As readers flash back to the events leading up to her disappearance, they see a girl on the precipice of disaster.

Chopsticks is a completely unique book- it stands alone and proud as the single YA picture book that I'm aware of. At 272 pages (LARGE pages at that) I knew it would be a quick read; but the fact that the whole story takes place using photography and strategic notes and words makes it much faster. You can easily flip through this one in an hour or so, but when I read it I actually ended up going BACK and looking over some sections of it again trying to piece the story together.
There is no other way to describe this book than absolutely intriguing and fascinating.

1. Unique experience:
   I can't stress this enough, but reading Chopsticks was a totally different experience from reading other  YA books. It's a very interesting contemporary read, with plenty of mystery mixed in as well but since there's no narrator (and very, very few words) it's up to the reader to piece together as much of the story as you can just from what you see on the pages. I spent a fair amount of time (over)analyzing the pages in hopes that I could figure out what had happened to Glory when she went missing.
2. BEAUTIFUL images:
   The photography is stunning and the strategic use of imagery is impeccable. Clearly, there was so much thought that went into this book and planning to drop little hints and lead you in one direction along the way. It really is very enjoyable just to flip through, and I'm so happy to have a gorgeous finished copy for my collection just because it is so different and I like looking through it at times. It's a work of art, in the same way that some illustrated books are art as well- this is just a different kind.
3. A shocking conclusion:
   I was able to figure out some of the twists in the ending, and I was correct about those, but by the time I got to the last page and things really started to fall into place I had to go back and look at the previous pages from before. And then I noticed all the subtle things I had missed, and then everything made so much sense! It was a pretty big shocker for me though.

Yet at the same time, the ending was left pretty open. Nothing really becomes clear as to exactly how the events transpired and you're left questioning how much of what you saw in the book was reality. It's a real psychological read, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending. Probably because even now, just thinking about it makes my brain go into overdrive trying to solve the mystery.
Also, I can really see how the story could be very confusing since there isn't a narrative to follow. It won't be the perfect read for everyone because of that, but if you're curious about it all then I really recommend that you take a look at this one.