The Glimpse by Claire Merle

Title: The Glimpse
Author: Claire Merle
Publisher: Faber & Faber (UK)
Release date: June 7th 2012

Rating: 3.5 / 5

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In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.

Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not interfere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society, and as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper’s abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe.

There was a worldwide economic collapse in 2018, the countries closed their borders and there was a great depression, so many people lost their homes, their jobs. there were several Petrol wars and in the the petrol dry up, because of these events there were a great number of suicides. Now in London 2041, the privileged live within gated communities where only "pure" people can live. The "pures" are separating from the "crazies" by a test that diagnostic who is carrier of the Big3 - schizophrenia, depression and anxiety, if the test is positive to Big3 the person is not allowed to live within the community and is cast out to live with the "crazies" in the city.

Ana has lived most of her life within the community and has been educated as a "pure" and has lived a good life and at 15 year-old she´s promise to Jasper and is in that time that she is told that her test was wrong and she´s a carrier of Big3 and she can no longer live within the community, but she is saved by her fiance because he wants to get marry her. So she gets an extension, she must get married before she turns 18 year-old or she will be expelled from the community. The story fast forward to Ana now 17 years and eleven months and is about to get married when her fiance is abducted. So Ana decides to leave her safe world to go and find Jasper before she turns 18 years-old.

The Glimpse is a dystopian novel, which is one of my favorites genres. Ana is a girls that since she was diagnosed with Big3, has live a lie, always having to suppress her emotions, trying to be perfect, trying to fit and not stand out much because even the slightest shown of emotion could had her classify as  "crazy", so she do everything she could to not be expelled from the community, which can be stressful. But the kidnapping of Jasper changes all that and once she´s out in the city she can be herself for the first time since she was diagnosed. And in the city she meet Cole and is love at first sight.

In short I liked this book, the plot is a bit slow but realistic, sad, exciting and stressful, there was a part in the book where we get to see the inside of a mental institution,  I was really distraught over the way mental patients were treated.

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