Book Review: Pick the Lock by A. S. King

Publisher’s description
From Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King, a weird and insightful new novel about a girl intent on picking the lock of her toxic family.
Jane Vandermaker-Cook would like her mother back. As Jane’s mother tours the world to support the family, Jane lives and goes to school in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their mendacious father who confines Jane’s mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she’s at home. And then there’s weirdly ever-present Aunt Finch, Milorad the gardener, and his rat, Brutus. For Jane, this all seems normal until she suddenly gains access to the files for a lifetime of security-camera videos—her lifetime.
A.S. King’s latest surrealist masterpiece follows Jane’s bizarre and brilliant journey to reconnect with her mother by breaking out of her shell and composing a punk opera.
Amanda’s thoughts
This is probably going to be one of those irritating not-really-a-review posts where I just gush that I really loved something and want you to just go experience it for yourself without me telling you too much. I am notoriously a speed reader. I skim down the middle of the page when I’m just trying to cruise through things. It’s a bad habit and one that probably means I miss a lot of details. But for this book? I read every word. I savored them.
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This is a story of toxic relationships, brainwashing, lies, gaslighting, and abuse. This is a story of freedom, safety, choice, and taking back who controls the narrative. This is a story of fierceness and fragility. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year.
The story begins in 2024 and main character Jane has been kept indoors at home since the start of the pandemic. Homeschooled and isolated, Jane only interacts with her younger brother, Henry, their monstrous father Vernon (constantly masquerading as the “good” parent), and the few staff members that live at or visit the home. Jane’s mother is a singer in a punk band and, when not on tour, is confined at home to a system of pneumatic tubes that run through the walls of the home. Yes, you read that right. When I described this part of the story to my husband, he said, “That sounds really effing weird,” which I gleefully agreed with. It IS weird. But Vernon reminds the kids that their mother is insane, she’s negligent. He reminds them that she wants to be in the tubes. Vernon has spent years and years making it clear to the children that their mother is the monster. But then things start to change. Jane discovers “home movies,” aka security camera footage, and starts to understand the story she’s always been told is not the same story reality tells. She starts to see through Vernon’s endless lies. She is allowed to leave Vernon’s Pandemic Prison School and attend public high school, which reunites with with her elementary school friends. The more Jane learns about the reality of her life, the more she is determined to dig deeper, to free her mother, to free herself. Digging deeper reveals weirder twists and turns than Jane could have possibly predicted, making her interrogate what it means to be safe and to escape. As she seeks to gain control of the narrative, she grows closer to her mother, and learns that maybe they won’t just control the narrative, maybe they’ll reverse it.
Undeniably one of the weirdest and best books I’ve read in my lifetime of reading. I hope to see this gain King her fourth Printz medal. A stunning example of the very best of YA.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
ISBN-13: 9780593353974
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: 09/24/2024
Age Range: 14 – 17 Years
Filed under: Book Reviews

About Amanda MacGregor
Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.
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