The Chaos of Standing Still

I love when a friend recommends a new book to me because I trust their judgement. It never fails that my friends find a great book that will move me to pieces. What really intrigued me the most was the title. It can be approached through so many different interpretations such as a mathematically, theoretically, metaphorically, physically, literally, and so on. Characters in the book, specifically Troy Benson, a fourteen-year-old genius—prodigy, discuss the chaos of people standing in one place for too long.

I loved how realistic this story felt. Fortunately, I have never experienced the death of a friend, but I did experience the death of a family friend from when I was eleven. The family friend was seven years younger than I, and she too was in tragic car accident. She was paralyzed from the neck down, and later died at the age of seven. I understand how Ryn, the main character, feels throughout the book.

People, like me, who have so much control over our emotions keep them locked away so the world can’t feel our pain. It’s not so much because we enjoy being emotionless, it’s because we don’t want our emotions to affect another person’s life in a negative way. Ryn has been reserved about herself for so long that when her friend Lottie dies she can’t grieve like everyone else.

Stories that approach serious or sensitive topics in such sophisticated and innovating ways always inspires me. This book is definitely a feel-good story by the end, but it’s not cliché or cheesy.

One of my favorite moments was when Xander, a teenage boy Ryn crashes into and spenders her time with in the airport, and Ryn are playing a game in the food court where they pick a category and a letter. For example, movies and O. From this game, they choose music and O. Xander lists The Bangles and Ryn is caught off guard because Xander states that he’s a hardcore Bangles fan. With Ryn’s disbelief, Xander immediately starts singing “Eternal Flame.”

In my mind, I can hear the song playing as Xander sings the lyrics, but then I get the idea of listening to the song while reading. I was awestruck because the tone of the song matched the tone of the scene. It was like reading a script for a movie while listening to the score. I couldn’t believe it. That’s how well written the scene was.

Some people might say airport stories are cliché or boring, but I love airport stories because it forces characters to interact in a close environment. Plus, in international airports, characters can meet other characters from other countries adding more diversity to a story. Airport stories, to me, elicit adventure. The Chaos of Standing Still was definitely an emotional adventure and one well worth reading.

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