On the Edge of Gone

By: Corinne Duyvis

Narrated by: Stephanie Willis

A thrilling, thought-provoking novel from one of young-adult literature's boldest new talents.

January 29, 2035. That's the day the comet is scheduled to hit - the big one.

Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter outside their hometown of Amsterdam to wait out the blast, but Iris is nowhere to be found, and at the rate Denise's drug-addicted mother is going, they'll never reach the shelter in time. A last-minute meeting leads them to something better than a temporary shelter - a generation ship scheduled to leave Earth behind to colonize new worlds after the comet hits. But everyone on the ship has been chosen because of their usefulness.

Denise is autistic and fears that she'll never be allowed to stay. Can she obtain a spot before the ship takes flight? What about her mother and sister? When the future of the human race is at stake, whose lives matter most?

©2016 Corinne Duyvis (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Interesting

I found this to be an interesting and different take on science fiction. Someone here complained about how most of this was about what was going on in her mind, I think if you didn’t like that why would you get more than two chapters in. Clearly that’s what this book was about, there are lots of books that are about what characters are thinking and I honestly prefer that but to each his own. And we learn to relate to her autism but it wasn’t thrown in your face, it was just another aspect of who the character was and then that way it made her a whole person not a caricature or a two dimensional image. I didn’t like this because it was a story about an autistic girl, I liked it because I liked it. I thought it was an interesting story made up of interesting characters. And well performed.

Better than I expected

During the first few chapters I thought the book was going to be a dud because I’m not autistic and didn’t think I’d be able to identify with the main character. But, it just kept getting better with small nuggets of interesting details. Then, I couldn’t stop listening. The narrator did such an amazing job that I felt like I was there with them on the ship and in the water. Highly recommend to anyone. Only one bad word in the whole book also. 🤗

WOW!! This what I've been searching for.

The story lines, the characters, the depth. so happy to have "read" this. I'm getting her next book!

Couldn't get into it.

The premise was a great one, and the storyline fantastic. I think the autistic aspect kept throwing a wrench in it for me, though. The novel was too wrapped up in the intricacies, habits and mental obstacles the girl faced due to her disability. It slowed down the novel, and made it frustrating. All of the narrative was wrapped up in this character's head, while I wanted to know what was happening with the apocalyptic world. The narration of the novel was hard for me, too. She did the job almost too well. I gave up on the story about two hours in, after all the yelling and panicking and confusion had my blood pressure up - and not in a good way. It was just too chaotic of a story for me. Others might like it, though.

Amazing book!!

Fantastic plot, characters and performance! A wonderful coming of age story with a surprising twist! Had trouble some of the Dutch words and geography since I don't live in Amsterdam, but that doesn't take away from the story. Very insightful.

okay story, great performance

The narrator/protagonist sure loves to jump to conclusions. Her assumptions of the events is what makes this a lengthy book. The dialogue itself is only about 2 hours in lenght, the rest is her speculating or over thinking. The performance by Stephanie Willis was incredible. She gave an accurate and wide range of accents with tones that made it hard to stop listening.

90% Autism Behavior and 10% Plot--So Tedious

If you want to listen to a book narrated at a mostly hysterical pitch, this is the book for you. If you want to listen to a book that is mostly about a zillion different autism behaviors (and I think at this point, we all know them because nearly every book must have a character with autism--seems to be a rule), then this is the book for you. If you want a book with no plot because there's no room for it, this is the book for you. If you want a book that needs 500 words to explain anything that normally takes a few words (I ate a roll with bread and butter turns into a treatise, So does the fact that she can't ask, "Are you ok?--that might be 1000 words) then this is the book for you.

This is not sci-fi. This is not anything other than what it's like to be a person with autism.